Who'd live in a house like this? Part 2

That makes me sad.

You'd need to knock 2 or 3 together to make a comfortable home for a single person, or a couple with very few possessions. It's absolutely tiny.

Might be this? The "George Best Hotel" in Belfast. Bought by an investment company whose business model was to sell the rooms to investors to fund the construction, then investors get the returns when the hotel opens. Shockingly, it didn't work out. The building is still empty today and the Signature Living company is liquidated. Such a pity as it's a stunning building literally in the centre of Belfast.

I've seen similar ads during the recession, where some hotels were selling a suite/rooms for a set period of time.

I think it works like this. For your €225,000, you 'own' the suite for 35 years with a guaranteed income.

So, €19,000 x 35 years = €665,000. After 35 years, ownership of the suite reverts back to the hotel. So you have €665,00 - €225,000 = €440,000 (minus any capital gains tax, e.g. current rate is 33%.

It's a very long financial commitment for modest returns, in my opinion. I'd prefer to have the original €225,000 in some well managed investment fund(s).

If big houses are your thing, this is one of the finest examples in my home town. A fairly recent build too

https://www.daft.ie/for-sale/detached-house-castlemagarretpark-old-claremorris-co-mayo/5681561

'To The Manor Born' notions, but they failed spectacularly. It's hideous, and every room is too big to feel like a home. The flooring is particularly awful.

And this looks mouldy.

That bathroom is a ridiculous - a total waste of so much space. Does anyone really need a bathroom that big?

I just remembered who ever owns that house has cameras monitoring the traffic going over the bridge where I circled in black. He also has cameras on the gate which isn't too unreasonable but monitoring the traffic with two cameras a day and night one going over the bridge is a bit over the top.

Oof, that is an architectural abomination. I'm not entirely certain what style they were trying to imitate there, but they failed badly. Nearest I can come up with is "Broke minor landed gentry who can't afford to build a modern manor and so resorts to knocking a few more windows in the walls of the family's old fortified house…", but even they would usually do a better job than that mess.

The interior ranges from "meh" to hideous, too. The hall and staircase are a crime against humanity; the plain white walls and ceiling don't work at all with the staircase or with that marble floor (not that anything else would make the latter any more palatable anyway). The rest of the downstairs is inoffensive enough, though, other than some wasted space here and there. Upstairs, the red carpet in the hall is certainly a choice, and the main bathroom is ridiculously huge and also hideous. The larger bedrooms are big, but not as ridiculously so as they could be, and the rest is fine. All of the bedrooms being ensuite is handy enough (well, except for that one box room which has an "unsuite" for some reason, whatever that means… 😛). The attic is just a basement substitute for the lads to hang out in, I suppose. I guess the one advantage to living in the place is not having to look at the exterior most of the time…

Questions it raises;

What architect would consciously design something as horrible as that?

Why did the Planning department let it through? I thought they fancied themselves as arbiters of taste, they are certainly quick enough to insist on quite picky details usually. (Ah, yes, it was built in 1997 during the 'build whatever you like' period, this is why Planning got fussy).

Why do people stick monstrous houses in the middle of bare fields and never put a bit of planting around them? A few trees would improve it considerably. I suppose if you are going to build a McMansion you want people to see how much you have spent.

There is one close to me, its very rural and the few houses are scattered, but that one is the only blot on the landscape. Its actually not a bad looking house but it's nakedness would be so improved by some planting.

That one is crying out for some trees to be planted along the driveway and around house.

Island living, 3 houses, rights over 9,500 acres of Connemara. Yours for 2.9m. Euromillions tonight so!

https://www.irishtimes.com/property/residential/2024/05/07/connemara-hunting-lodge-adored-by-earls-and-kings-for-29m/

The proportions of the outside are all wrong, the spacing of the windows, the size and number of them, the shape of the entranceway are all clumsy. The spacing between the plain upper windows and the parapet is wrong. The stone, in itself, is fine, but its just stuck onto a cobbled together blockwork shape.

The windows really bothered me looking through all the photos.

At first I thought they were plastic hinged ones, but on zooming in I realised they actually are sash, and presumably wooden - but my goodness they're mean, and way out of proportion to the house itself. Horrendous.