Welcome to the Dragon's Den

The Shrewsbury Road home of entrepreneur Niall O'Farrell comes with its own pool, cinema and a cool €14m price tag, writes Valerie Shanley

Thorndene looks like a typical Shrewsbury Road house but is in fact only a few years' old

As headlines announcing drastically reduced properties are now 10 a penny, a €14m asking price commands amazement, never mind attention, in a plunging market.

Thorndene, a Victorian-style, seven-bed house on half an acre of landscaped gardens on Shrewsbury Road, Dublin 4, is tailored to perfection by owner Niall O'Farrell.

The property has already attracted plenty of interest after just a couple of weeks on the market, he says, adding that he's "very hopeful" that planning permission will come through in a couple of weeks to build a new home on his other Shrewsbury Road site, to which he wants to re-locate.

Best known as the owner of formal dress hire chain Blacktie, three Henry Jermyn boutiques, and as a judge on RTE's Dragon's Den last spring, O'Farrell says he's not short of an alternative abode elsewhere in the unlikely event of planning not being granted for the new property. His Dublin portfolio alone includes addresses that invariably come with the 'leafy' tag – before moving to Ballsbridge, the dapper 'dragon' lived in Cliff Castle on Colliemore Road, Dalkey (currently let to the Moroccan embassy).

Although it presents a Victorian facade, Thorndene is less than a decade old. O'Farrell bought the half-acre site on Shrewsbury Road in 1998 for a reported €3.6m. After securing planning permission to build two properties, he sold a smaller portion of the site to the property developer Sean Dunne, who became his next-door neighbour. The design of the faux-period Thorndene is very much cut to O'Farrell's pattern.

"What I bought was originally the site of the pharmacology department of Trinity College, which housed several pre-fabs. I wanted to create a house more in keeping with the architectural print of the road, and while the late Sam Stephenson is the name most closely associated with the design, I've put so much of my own style into it. When friends first visited, they used to say it must have been a nightmare to restore – convinced it was authentically period. They are quite taken aback." And that's hardly surprising: the sheer size of the house alone is 863 sq m (9,290 sq ft) over four levels – big enough to incorporate a 50ft indoor swimming pool with steam room and sauna, and a home cinema. Granite steps and an ornate entrance arch flanked by classic columns suggests the level of luxury waiting inside. The reception hall is defined by a sandstone fireplace and marble floor. Natural light flows down from an oval cupola. Leading from the hall are the study, bay-windowed drawing room and interconnecting dining room, all with decorative coving and white marble fireplaces. The bay windowed, fully integrated kitchen is fitted with pale sage painted cupboard from Dalkey Design and complemented by a cream Aga. Open-plan from here is the family room. The master bedroom, with dressing room and en-suite, is on the first floor. Six further bedrooms follow, five of which are en-suite and two with French doors leading out to their own balcony. Down at garden level is the pool, jacuzzi, steam room, sauna and showers.

Throughout, there are the finishing touches associated with someone who has made his mark in fine tailoring, from the hand carved white oak staircase to the pure silk wallpapers.

O'Farrell says he built Thorndene knowing he would sell it at some stage but is happy to be staying on the "quietly sociable" Shrewsbury Road.

"The other house I'm planning is currently a '70s mews that was butchered over the years with at one stage a flat-roof extension. My original plans for it were turned down and I have a more modest proposal this time." So, not sentimental at all about forsaking Thorndene, or concerned about the difficult market for multi-million mansions? "No, I can't wait to do it all again." Suits you, sir.

Price: €14m

Agent: Colliers Jackson-Stops 01 6333700