The apartments were priced from 1.3m for a ground floor two-bed and went up to 3m for a penthouse with a 1,500 sq ft roof garden and a view that must rank as one of the most glamorous in Dublin.

The 44 apartments go on sale officially next month through joint agents Hooke & MacDonald and Kelly Walsh, but after a pre-launch viewing a hugely positive reaction led to the sale of 14 units.

The buyers were mainly local people according to Renagh MacDonald of Hooke and MacDonald. "We've had a very positive reaction so far and plan to launch them publicly in the next six weeks.

While the show apartments are ready, the developers want to landscape the site and show buyers what it will be like before they advertise them for sale."

The first glimpse of these apartments comes in the latest edition of the interiors publication, The White Book.

Published by Montague Publications in conjunction with agents Hooke & MacDonald, the coffee table design magazine highlights the show apartments styled by current interiors queen Helen Turkington.

The rooms in these spacious apartments are designed to be palatial . . . their floor to ceiling windows allowing views of the stunning seascapes to infiltrate the living space.

These homes are for people who have been used to living on a grand scale in the surrounding large period homes . . . or for younger professionals and families who want glamorous, easy to manage homes which are perfect for entertaining.

Helen Turkington is known for the interiors she styled at two other millionaire destination developments, Hollybrook in Foxrock and Elysium beside the Burlington Hotel. And with the Court Apartments, she once again makes a strong interiors' fashion statement through her signature soft palette of pale neutrals, dark woods and sumptuous sofas punctuated by contemporary touches of glass and steel.

They reflect the living space wish-list of potential buyers, with their own office and customised shelving at the end of one room to demonstrate the flexibility of the large living rooms to professional buyers who are likely to want to work from home.

Kitchens in the showhouses are open plan and designed by Leinster Kitchens in Newbridge in contemporary white with rich wenge worktops.

Developers Ellen Construction have spent the past two years building the apartments, designed in two blocks which stand either side of the protected Victorian structure of the original hotel. Architects Henry J Lyons designed these new blocks and their simple symmetry makes for a much softer backdrop to the original building than the unsightly extension which was knocked down.

The facade of the original building has been retained and will be rebuilt and refurbished to accommodate two centrepiece apartments.

The hotel was bought by Bert Allen of Slaney Meats, who paid 7.65m to the Buckley family who ran it as a popular seaside hostelry for many years.

There was a lot of local opposition to the closure of the hotel and its conversion to apartments at a Bord Pleanala hearing early last year because it has meant that public areas near to Killiney beach are now privatised. An Bord Pleanala, in its decision, said that putting apartments on the site would not adversely affect the amenities in the area.

Ironically, most buyers so far have been local . . . professional couples and older couples who love the area and who are looking for a stunning but more manageable home.

Joint Agents: Hooke & MacDonald; Kelly Walsh The White Book costs 10