Dream House | The McDonough Mansion - A unique structure with personality and history

Houses come alive not only by their architectural construct, but by those who inhabit them – persons who are as unique as the very structures themselves. Every house tells its own story, and this one is no different.

They both met while working at the First National City Bank in Kingston. Their unbridled emotions eventually swept them to the altar and marriage in 1966. Three fine boys would be born to complete the family.

Today, Pat and Ruddy McDonough have graciously invited us inside their home in Stony Hill, St Andrew. We learn that they first started a fabric store on Princess Street, downtown Kingston, eventually opening a store in The Village Plaza, Constant Spring Road.

Then one day, the winds of fortune blew their way and after considerable persuasion on their part – and much reluctance on hers – the elderly lady who owned that house on the corner of South Avenue and Constant Spring Road relented and sold them the property to erect a shopping plaza. That edifice, built in 1972 (beside Village Plaza) is known as the 7th Avenue Plaza – still owned and controlled by them.

The family would leave Jamaica in 1978 to reside in America, although Ruddy kept travelling back and forth. They would operate boutiques at two of South Florida’s leading shopping malls while living there.

After returning to Jamaica for some years now, Pat and Ruddy (although they have a house in Stony Hill) have opted to live in this dream apartment, which offers great location, security and the ability to just lock up and disappear as they please. A clubhouse with pool is a further attraction.

The abode’s configuration consists of three bedrooms, all with tray ceilings and three bathrooms. A separate high-ceiling living room, comes with a private entertainment balcony. A family room sits above. A dine-in island kitchen (a kitchen of kitchens) amazes, along with the dining room which has windows framing landscaped views. All this on two floors of ultra-luxurious spaces.

In this unit, the existing spiral staircase was dug out of the concrete and repositioned. New custom-fabricated stainless steel handrails were added – a work of art seldom (if ever) seen before! As if that were not enough, a shimmering waterfall spills over the walls into a pool under the said staircase.

European décor reveals itself with accent walls in Venetian plaster – a picturesque, three-dimensional surface finish, producing an aged marble-like appearance, seen in the most expensive homes on the planet.

The master bathroom (with a Jacuzzi) has a contemporary multifunction hydrotherapy shower, that massages with spray jets from every angle.

Interiors continue to impress with porcelain tiles on floors; windows treated with Roman shades; and the furniture of modern design; with balcony seating made out of bamboo.

An apartment that was sold somewhat unfinished, to allow for individual design tastes. Thereafter, designed and constructed by me, as the embodiment of living at its finest.