The entrance to Knocksinna, a cul de sac made up of mainly art deco-inspired homes, in Foxrock, off the busy N11, is marked by Knocksinna House, the Portuguese embassy. The road is also home to the Indian ambassador’s residence.
Suantraí (it means lullaby) is a detached, A3 energy rated, five-bedroom house that was designed by Tony Horan of Horan Rainsford Architects and built on what was the garden of the house next door. Built by developer Gerard Kelly, of Crescent Projects Limited – younger brother of developer Paddy Kelly – the house was completed in 2010. It went on the market in July of that year asking €2.75 million.The solid concrete structure is 462sq m (4,980sq ft) and is now back on the market asking €1.5 million through agents Savills.
The polished-granite- floored hall opens into a large formal sittingroom and adjacent diningroom to the left. The sittingroom has a dancing-flame, flush-with-the-wall gas fire. These rooms have interconnecting doors with tilt-and-turn French windows that open out to the garden.
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The kitchen-cum-family room features a simple white kitchen with a composite stone breakfast bar. The windows in the family room in part look back towards the neighbouring house and so have opaque glass for privacy and soft, diffused light.
This room also has a dancing-flame fire and tri-fold-back doors that open the space up to the south by south-west facing garden, designed by landscape architect Patricia Tyrrell. It has specimen ferns and a patio of Spanish terracotta tiles, imported from Barcelona that add warmth and give the place “a Florida feel”, Kelly says.
A slick staircase with a handrail custom-made by Allwood Joinery leads the eye both up and down. At basement level there is a huge games- room-cum-home-cinema, illuminated by light wells to the front and back of the house. There is also a wine cellar and a self-contained one-bedroom apartment complete with kitchenette and large wet room.
Heat recovery
On the first floor there are four bedrooms with built-in wardrobes and the same muted decorative palette. All have en suite bathrooms. The master bedroom also has a double- ended bath as well as a walk-in closet.
The house has recessed mood lighting, under-floor heating, limed-oak engineered floors, and a central vacuum system. There’s also an inbuilt heat recovery system and solar panels.
“The property would be expected to achieve a monthly rental in the region of €6,000,” says Savills’ head of residential property, Graham Murray.
Out front there is off-street parking for three to four cars behind electronic stainless steel gates, designed by the architect.
