Looks can be deceiving. From the outside Kaelista, on the Albert Road Lower, looks like one of Sandycove's many impressive period family houses that have been renovated in recent years.

In fact, the double-fronted Victorian-style villa is divided vertically into two homes – and the one that’s for sale, Kaelista, is the left hand side of the property.

This is the part that, when the house was divided, got the original entrance – the gate onto Albert Road and the front door with its fanlight at the top of a flight of stone steps. The property is for sale through Savills for €1.245 million.

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The investor-owner bought the house in the late 1990s, when it was a pre-63 property with a large back garden. He gutted the interior of the main house to make two units and built a large contemporary- style house in the garden. All have been rentals ever since.

Staircase extension

To give Kaelista a staircase, a slim two-story extension was built to the side. The stairs lead up to an attic room, which could be used as a home office, and down to garden level and the bathroom and the three bedrooms, two with an ensuite.

The bedroom at the back opens out on to the back garden, which has been landscaped for low maintenance. The hall door opens into roomy hallway with black-and-white tiled flooring and space for some furniture.

Off it is the living area, which is made up of a reception room to the front (it has the original tall sash window). This opens into a dining room and on again to an eat-in kitchen in back.

There are glazed doors dividing the front reception room from the back of the house, but it’s easy to see why these would be kept open most of the time to create a large bright open-plan living space.

Tall walls

A decked terrace is directly outside the kitchen and a flight of metal steps leads down to the back garden. The front garden is behind tall walls. Access to the staircase is directly off the dining room, which might not suit a busy family with lots of comings and goings.

Most of the house’s original interior features went when it was gutted for division and the well-kept bright interior feels sparse and modern.

There is off-street parking, accessed from Marine Court, for one car.