Slevyre (or Slevoir), Borrisokane, Co Tipperary
Mark Bence-Jones. A Guide to Irish Country Houses (originally published as Burke’s Guide to Country Houses volume 1 Ireland by Burke’s Peerage Ltd. 1978); Revised edition 1988 Constable and Company Ltd, London.
p. 261. “(Hickie/IFR) A large Victorian-Italianate mansion on the shores of Lough Derg, built ca 1870 by Lt-Col J.F. Hickie. Two storey; irregular front. Entrance door at the front of an unusually tall four storey campanile tower. Balustraded roof parapet; tripartite and Venetian windows, windows with entablatures or pediments over them. Sold ca 1950; now a convent. A very attractive modern house in the Classical style, rather like a pavilion, has been built elsewhere in the demesne by Brid and Mrs W.S.F. Hickie.”
Slevoir House, ALLENGORT, Terryglass, Tipperary North
Detached five-bay two-storey house, c.1870, in an Italianate style, having projecting four-stage towered entrance bay, lower slightly-recessed four-bay wing to south end of front and a bowed bay and advanced bay to garden façade of main block. Pitched slate roofs to house and felted roof with cornice and brackets to tower and to rendered chimneys. Balustrade to main roof with low parapet to wing. Ruled-and-lined render to all facades with stucco quoins to main house. Tower of ashlar granite, channelled to lower stages and with paired pilasters to upper. Square-headed window openings with stone sills, moulded surrounds and entablature and some tripartite with brackets to sills. Round-arch and squared-headed windows to tower, with imposts to ground floor, pediments to second and paired with keystones to third. Depressed-arch Palladian window in front elevation with panelled pilasters. Keystone, entablature, scrolls and brackets to sills. Round-arch door opening with keystone, spoked fanlight and flanked by red marble columns and panels. All windows and doors are replacement uPVC. Stable yard to south built around courtyard having hipped slate roofs. Rubble limestone walls and snecked squared limestone entrance gateway in east of complex having cut-stone voussoirs to carriage arch. Cut-stone surrounds to window openings facing onto yard.
Appraisal
This imposing house was built for Lt. Col. J.F. Hickey by John McCurdy on the shores of Lough Derg and its distinctive tower is visible from across the lake. Its style is idiosyncratic, but clearly Italianate. The ashlar granite tower has skilled stonework and details and the render detailing of the rest of the building is pleasant. The external character of the house has been altered by the replacement of windows and doors, but otherwise the exterior is relatively intact. The grounds and stable yard are well maintained.
http://landedestates.nuigalway.ie/LandedEstates/jsp/property-list.jsp?letter=R
Lewis records R. Monsell as resident at Slevoir in 1837. The Reverend Francis Synge was the occupier at the time of Griffith’s Valuation, holding the property from the representatives of Mr Steele. The buildings were valued at £34. The National Inventory of Architectural Heritage states that the present house was built in the Italianate style in the 1870s for Lieutenant Colonel J.F. Hickey by John McCurdy. In the early 1940s General Carlos J. Hickie was the owner and the house contained very beautiful furnishings and valuable family pictures according to the Irish Tourist Association surveyor. This house sold for over £3 million in 2000 and was offered for sale again in 2011.
https://www.independent.ie/regionals/newrossstandard/news/slevoir-house-makes-31m-27466062.html
July 3 1999
A record price for a property in Tipperary was achieved on Tuesday when Slevoir House, Terryglass, was sold for just over £3 million at…
A record price for a property in Tipperary was achieved on Tuesday when Slevoir House, Terryglass, was sold for just over £3 million at auction.
The original house at Slevoir was built at the close of the eighteenth century by the Maunsell family. It later passed to a Rev Francis Synge, who put the property for sale in 1871. It was then purchased by Lt. Col James F. Hickie and his Spanish born wife Lucilia.
They completely rebuilt the house, giving it the distinctive tower, and the refurbishment was completed in 1875. Slevoir was the residence of the Hickie family to 1965, when it was sold to the Salesian sisters. They were at Slevoir until 1983, when it passed into private ownership. It was sold again in 1987.
Considered one of Ireland’s outstanding Victorian country houses, in mint condition, it has a splendid lakeside setting on about 100 acres on the shores of Lough Derg. There are eleven bedrooms with bathroom or shower en-suite, five reception, kitchen with 4 oven Aga, oil fired central heating.
Outside there is a manager’s bungalow, well manicured lawns, hard tennis court, impressive stable yard with stone faced buildings, walled garden, parkland and woodland and extensive frontage to the lake.
Bidding opened on Tuesday at £1 million, and it went on the market at £2 million. There were 41 bids before it was knocked down at £3,110,000, according to Charles Smyth of Gunnes Country Department, who were joint agents with The Property Shop.
It was sold to Tralee Auctioneer Edward Barrett, in trust. The new owner is understood to be an American industrialist.
Irish Historic Houses 