Glengarriff is on Claremont Road, just down from the green in Sandymount village. An elegant, detached Victorian house on almost a third of an acre, it’s an expansive, charming home, with windows on all sides flooding the finely-proportioned house with light all day long.
Well set back from the road, there is parking for several cars in the gravelled, tree-lined driveway. A brief set of granite steps lead to the front door at the side of the house, opening on to a carpeted hall with the first sights of an extensive collection of portraits and art.
Interconnecting reception rooms lit by two pairs of sash windows lie to the front of the redbrick property, built in 1872, however it is not Ber-exempt and has a rating of D2. When the family bought the house 20 years ago, they were particularly charmed by these sunny rooms and the matching twin fireplaces in marble at either end.
These rooms have seen many dinners and parties, with the extending diningroom table and additional trestles seating up to 30 on occasion. On quiet Sunday mornings, this is where the owners read the papers over coffee. The coving, cornicing and ceiling roses are particularly elaborate and fine. Back in the hall, at one end there is a guest loo, at the other is a lovely family room, with a wall of ancestral portraits and photos, built-in bookshelves and another lovely fireplace. Doors open from here on to a tiered deck that gets evening sun.
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When they bought the house, which has an area of 321sq m (3450sq ft), the owners focused their renovations on the kitchen, and it’s now a smart, light-filled space, with an island, timber-topped units, a Waterford Stanley stove and beside a seating area, doors open out to another deck where beyond the long, 250ft garden beckons. Behind the kitchen is a utility room that comes into its own as a second kitchen when entertaining.
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The garden is the centrepiece of the home, divided into different decks and patios and nooks and corners to best take advantage of the sun as it arcs over the house. Full of cordylines, agapanthus, mature magnolias, azaleas and camellias, it probably needs to be seen after a little croquet on the end lawn, on a summer’s evening, G&T in hand, to be truly appreciated.
On the first return lies a pretty bathroom, with pale blue Toile de Jouy wallpaper, curtains to match and a free-standing, claw-foot bath. Also on the return is a double bedroom with a window overlooking the garden.
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The first floor has three double bedrooms, with built-in wardrobes and plenty of storage. The two bedrooms to the front have the same double sash windows as the reception rooms below. The en suite of the principal bedroom is lovely, with a tall window facing east. The top floor return has a handsome study with plenty of built-in bookshelves and is a calm retreat with impressive marble fireplace and windows overlooking the garden below.
“There are no formal rooms,” says the owner, adding, “we use all of them, and it’s magical at Christmas.” It’s a house that has been full of life, with plenty of room for a busy family. When the owner first moved in, she had a few ladies in for a charity coffee morning, 300 of them to be precise, which gives an excellent indication of just how accommodating this house is.
Sandymount village is on the doorstep and they loved the proximity to the Aviva, the RDS, and to the Bull Wall and Sandymount strand for walks. As one of the owners is an avid swimmer, they are moving closer to one of south Dublin’s famed swimming spots.
Glengarriff is being brought to market by Sherry FitzGerald, seeking €4.25 million.
