Elvis' one time home in Dublin in tv show, 9 January 2024

martinfoyle · Post by **martinfoyle** » Mon Oct 27, 2003 7:05 pm

From the Irish edition of The Sunday Times ,
Oct.26th.

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/printFrien ... 27,00.html

October 26, 2003

Elvis Costello in row over Co Dublin home
Siobhan Maguire

THE singer Elvis Costello has become embroiled in a
planning row with claims that a two-storey garage he
wants to build beside his Dublin home is in breach of
planning laws.
Local TDs and councillors are calling on Dun Laoghaire
Rathdown County Council to carry out a full
investigation into the planning permission Costello
got for the development, with locals complaining about
its size and scale. The council is coming under
pressure to revoke its decision.

Waymark, Costello’s home on Ballyedmonduff Road in
Stepaside, was put up for sale over two months ago
with an asking price of €1.3m. The package includes
full planning permission for a two-storey garage and
store building on an enclosed site beside the house.

But a dispute has arisen over the permission, with
some local residents claiming it contravenes planning
guidelines that apply to houses in such high amenity
areas. Costello’s home, in the foothills of the Dublin
mountains, should not have a high-rise garage, locals
argue.

Adding to their unhappiness is the claim that
applications by some of Costello’s neighbours for
planning permission to develop their own houses have
been rejected by the council. Some believe an
exception was made for Costello because of his
celebrity status.

Using his real name, Declan MacManus, Costello applied
for planning permission for the 3,650-sq-ft two-storey
garage and storage building in May last year.

The submission included a request for a biocycle waste
water and a treatment system, as well as two separate
entrances to the property.

Permission was granted by Dun Laoghaire Rathdown
County Council on four conditions, including that the
garage not be used as a separate dwelling with its own
curtilage nor as a flat independent of the main
dwelling. There were no objections and the case was
never referred to An Bord Pleanala, the planning
appeals board.

But afterwards residents became suspicious about the
scale of the proposed development, and having studied
the plans from Costello's estate agents, claimed the
half-moon-shaped building went beyond what was
described in the site notice.

They claimed the proposed property did not fit the
description of a garage/storage area and should not
have been granted permission in an area zoned for
higher amenity.

One resident said: “The development includes plans for
equipment storage, an archive store, a tea dock,
toilet, two lobbies, 24 windows, a balcony, boiler
room and two storeys, in a building on a site perched
on the top of a mountain.”

Councillors and TDs have written to the planning
department for a review of the permission. Derek
Brady, the county manager, will also be asked to
investigate if the decision was in breach of the
Planning and Development Act 2000. This could result
in the revocation or modification of the planning
permission.

Dun Laoghaire Rathdown County Council said the file
was now with senior planning executives and it could
not comment further. Costello could not be contacted
for comment.

----------------------------------------------------

See also

http://www.lisney.com/showsearch.asp?Fo ... &RSID=1716

laughingcrow · Post by **laughingcrow** » Tue Oct 28, 2003 8:13 am

I didn't know bicycles gave off waste water!

verbal gymnastics · Post by **verbal gymnastics** » Tue Oct 28, 2003 9:16 am

laughingcrow wrote:I didn't know bicycles gave off waste water!

Come on LC. The bicycle gives off waste water in the evening - hence Night Raleigh!

...and what about "Don't dilly dally boys Raleigh round the flag"?!

bobster · Post by **bobster** » Tue Oct 28, 2003 1:41 pm

"Garage" -- More Universal than Personal says Former Angry Young Man E. Costello"

On tour promoting his new album "Garage," acclaimed singer-songwriter Elvis Costello is friendly but resistant to the prying questions of reporters. Yet fans and critics alike have been struck by the obviously personal nature of his new record. Composed entirely of frequently melancholic ballads, the collection appears to have been inspired by the singer's deep sadness over the refusal of neighbors to grant permission to have a garage, and his growing happiness in realizing that he's moving somewhere more closely located to new best friend, Clint Eastwood.

"It's not like I'm the first person in history to be denied permission to have a garage built," says Costello, maintaining his affable mood but clearly determined to guard his privacy. "A song like 'A Place to Park' is really about the universal sadness we all feel when parking is inconvenient. And 'Why Won't These Wankers Let Me Build It' could be seen as being about a zoning dispute, or it could be about how some people are wankers."

Although reaction from UK critics has been universally derogatory, European and North American writers have been kinder. In any case, the songs appear to be a big hit with fans in concert, with "A Garage with 24 Windows and Two Tea Docks" seems to be generating the most excitement, even in the U.S., where, as one fan put it: "I know what a 'wanker' is, but what's a 'tea dock?' Does he have to bring the tea in on a boat?"

Misha · Post by **Misha** » Tue Oct 28, 2003 1:44 pm

Bobster,

You have outdone yourself....

What was the song about the tennis court? I don't remember...Something about blocking it's view with a huge two story addition....

pip_52 · Post by **pip_52** » Tue Oct 28, 2003 1:45 pm

Is "Garage" also about going from a desolate sort of place to a more optimistic one?

What is a tea-dock anyway . . . and why is it in the garage?

Lipstick · Post by **Lipstick** » Tue Oct 28, 2003 4:59 pm

My favorite is the Mustang Mambo. I just can't sit still when those percusive rumbles start up.

bobster · Post by **bobster** » Tue Oct 28, 2003 6:11 pm

Actually, my personally favorite is "Ballyedmonduff Road"

"Rocking on Ballyedmonduff Road
Or somewhere quite like it...."

Note to UK friends...how the @#$#@$ is Ballyedmonduff pronounced, anyway?

It's Gaelic, I assume. Either that, or it's one of them crazy UK pronunciations where Magdelaine (sp?) College at Oxford (or is it Cambridge?) is pronounced "maudlin".....

sulkygirl · Post by **sulkygirl** » Tue Oct 28, 2003 6:21 pm

And just what the hell IS a tea dock??

Otis??
Gilli??
PoP???

laughingcrow · Post by **laughingcrow** » Tue Oct 28, 2003 6:34 pm

Bobster my man...genius!!!!!!

''Why is it called Garage?''

''You know when people say I like house music...it's the opposite of that!''

martinfoyle · Post by **martinfoyle** » Tue Oct 28, 2003 7:15 pm

...how the @#$#@$ is Ballyedmonduff pronounced, anyway?

Funnily enough its pronounced almost exactly as its spelt, just drop the the 'y'. Out there in the suburbs there are all kinds of convuluted pretentious rustic sounding street names, a vain attempt to give the hole in the ground some character.

laughingcrow · Post by **laughingcrow** » Tue Oct 28, 2003 7:45 pm

I always liked the Irish way of writing O'Leary...confuses English people.

DrJ · Post by **DrJ** » Tue Oct 28, 2003 8:29 pm

Bally-Edmund-Duff.

Quaint.

DrJ

pip_52 · Post by **pip_52** » Wed Oct 29, 2003 12:24 am

So . . . nobody knows what a tea dock is?

This is gonna bother me . . .

bambooneedle · Post by **bambooneedle** » Wed Oct 29, 2003 2:01 am

I think it is a specially built area where you can entertain; a space where to sit and have tea. I suppose it's a quite nominal term. And he (or whoever did it for him) probably called the proposed building a 'garage' initially to get it approved easier. Then it must have been promoted as what it became on later plans, when it came to selling it.

bobster · Post by **bobster** » Wed Oct 29, 2003 5:25 am

laughingcrow wrote:''Why is it called Garage?''

''You know when people say I like house music...it's the opposite of that!''

I never, ever say this, but I'm going to, just this one time....lol. You heard it hear first.

pip_52 · Post by **pip_52** » Wed Oct 29, 2003 1:23 pm

Thanks Bamboo, I feel better now.

selfmademug · Post by **selfmademug** » Wed Oct 29, 2003 6:50 pm

That's the best guffaw I've had in a month!!

PlaythingOrPet · Post by **PlaythingOrPet** » Thu Oct 30, 2003 2:35 pm

A tea dock? What? I know Elvis likes his tea but that's a bit extreme, isn't it?

bobster · Post by **bobster** » Thu Oct 30, 2003 2:44 pm

From what I've read, Elvis seems to dote on caffiniated beverages in general.

So, I guess the next step is an Espresso barge.

Misha · Post by **Misha** » Thu Oct 30, 2003 8:20 pm

Bobster!! Envy doesn't become you....you know you want to mainline caffiene!!! You would love a barge...

Maybe a small island somewhere, made solely of caffeine...??

bobster · Post by **bobster** » Fri Oct 31, 2003 12:06 am

I would never mainline coffee....

On the other hand, if someone developed a coffee bong....

pip_52 · Post by **pip_52** » Fri Oct 31, 2003 1:30 am

Give me two days . . .

johnfoyle · Post by **johnfoyle** » Sun Apr 03, 2005 1:10 am

http://www.sbpost.ie/post/pages/p/story ... qqqx=1.asp

( extract)

Singer Elvis Costello is another British star to upset his Irish neighbours. In 2003, Costello's neighbours objected when he was granted planning permission to extend his home in Stepaside in south Dublin. Costello wanted to build a 3,650-square-foot, two-storey garage on the site, to include music archives, a tea dock, a lobby and two balconies.

Obviously not impressed, Costello sold the house shortly after to energy conservation engineer Cormac Walsh for about €1.2 million.

johnfoyle · Post by **johnfoyle** » Mon Apr 04, 2005 6:53 am

I think I've solved the mystery of the ' tea dock'. I checked with a source in the Irish auction industry ( uh, actually the bloke who picks up the
newspapers that a local auctioneer gets on account from my shop) and he reckons it's a misprint ; it should be ' teak deck'.

Maybe he's right ; 'net sites do , though , say it's more usual on boats than on land.

see
http://www.teakpatiofurinture.com/wood_decks.html