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Red House, Portgloriam, Co Kildare
Starting price: €1.3 m
Agent: Coonan Property (01) 6286128
FWe find out that the late Taoiseach Charles Haughey indulged in secret therapy. When the going got tough, the tough started to grow. Tree planting to be specific.
Looks like CJH was a tree hugger in the closet. And there was no one he trusted more to help him through tough times than renowned horticulturist and garden designer John Joe Costin.
As a young researcher at the Kinsealy Agricultural Institute, Costin was sent across the road to Abbeville one afternoon in 1971 when Haughey was seeking advice on his gardens (and also licking his wounds after the gun crisis). Thus began a lifelong relationship between the two men.
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John Joe Costin outside his Red House in Kildare. Photo: Bryan Meade
“Every time Haughey had a crisis, he would plant trees,” says Costin. “It was like therapy for him, to stop thinking about things. He liked to meet early in the morning before going to the office.
“This seemed to distract him from his problems. I was totally absorbed in what we were doing. It was his way out. And then he would go back to his problems and solve them in a more efficient way. “
Abbeville was Haughey’s pride and joy and he wanted to restore it to the best of his ability. He was willing to learn from Costin and was very willing to accept new plants.
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Charles Haughey liked to meet John Joe Costin early in the morning to plant trees.
“Where people compete with each other now for big cars, years ago when it was all about home entertainment, very often there was a big competition to see who had the latest South American acquisition, be it a puzzle or a pine tree, “Costin says. “Haughey understood that the arboretum was part of the big houses.”
The controversial leader did not like to get his hands dirty, at least not in the literal sense. “I still have his cane,” Costin says. “He walked with it and supervised. We plant trees there every year. He was a small man, but he was not interested in small plants. Their interests lay in the great giants of the forest. We got along well because it didn’t flatter him. I went straight to him, which he liked. “
After four years at Kinsealy, Costin left to go out on his own. Established the country’s first wholesale nursery in Kildare. “I was growing plants in pots and the traditionalists thought this was against God and against nature because it was a new technology and they were terrified of the future,” he says. “So I went to Belfast in 1973 to sell because I thought it might have a better reception.”
It was at the height of the riots, but Costin received a warm welcome. “I was embraced by Presbyterians and Unionists and all sorts because I was the sustenance for the supplies,” Costin says. “They appreciated that he had the liathróidí to do what his English suppliers did not have the nerve to do. Better yet, they didn’t want to trade the southern currency, so they paid me in pounds sterling. “
Costin became the first Irish garden designer of the modern era to shine internationally. In 1989, the Japanese government asked Haughey if Ireland would participate in the 91st International Exposition, one of the largest garden festivals in the world at the time. Costin submitted a design and ended up representing Ireland.
“We went to Osaka in 1990 and built a garden. There was a hidden front with the entrance like a miniature Newgrange and Sceilg Mhichíl inside. The Japanese had orgasms of pleasure watching him. They have kept it in perpetuity in one of their public gardens. ”
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An aerial view of the lake and the gardens surrounding the Red House.
But it was his highly respected work at Powerscourt in Wicklow that ultimately inspired Costin to create his extraordinary home in Portgloriam. “I had the guts to think I’d do a Powerscourt baby here,” he laughs.
Costin is from Ring in Waterford and he missed the beauty of the water. To address this deficiency, he decided to excavate a three-acre lake that would be located in front of the house.
In 2003, Costin and his wife Betty took a research trip to Austria, where they came across a type of house in an exhibition that stayed cool in summer but warmed in winter. They brought this idea home and contacted architect Greg Tisdall of Studio D.
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The balcony overlooks the lake
“He was absolutely fabulous in his innovative thinking,” says Costin. He also credits Betty’s vision. “His mind is very intuitive and responds to surroundings. She doesn’t end anything. It was a happy trio, I can assure you. “
The house has two main reception rooms, four bedrooms and three bathrooms. The front elevation of the Red House faces south and is fully glazed. The living room and kitchen occupy that area. There is a balcony on the roof that lets in light, minus the heat from the sun above. “It is a wonderful observational science that is a response to the intense heat of summer,” says Costin.
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The kitchen receives a lot of light
There is also a utility room, WC and bedroom on the ground floor. Above, a roof overhang that extends three to four meters keeps the heat from the high sun out of these rooms in the summer.
On the east side is the master bedroom with a separate bathroom and dressing rooms. At the end of the landing is another bedroom. Out front is a library where the Costins sit writing and reading most of the day.
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The library where the Costins spent a lot of time writing and reading
“We are looking south and it is a beautiful room. It’s probably what we miss the most, ”he says. Red House comes with 19.6 acres. The south side is covered with trees, which Costin collected from all the continents. Along the west and north sides there are red alders from Oregon and Washington. Everything is very natural and does not require much maintenance.
Now the Costins are moving to Mount Juliet. “We’ll be happy to let someone else cut the grass for a change,” says the innovative plant man.
Indo Property
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