Dalkey home back on market after €1.25m makeover

DALKEY: €.5M -A redbrick with a mews coach-house and apartment near Dalkey Dart would suit an extended family, writes Orna Mulcahy, Property Editor

SANTA MARIA on Cunningham Road in Dalkey, Co Dublin, is a house that got stranded by the property slowdown.

The sprawling redbrick, which featured in two biographies and a play by Hugh Leonard, whose father was head gardener there, was sold in 2005 to property developers intent on building in its two-acre garden.

Planning was duly given for low rise developmentof apartments and houses with the main house keeping 0.6 acres.

Now developer Wesley Curran is putting the the house back on the market, having given it a €1.25 million makeover that included rebuilding a coach-house to the side as a three-bedroom house that could also be used as offices or consulting rooms.

The property now has over 753sq m (8,105sq ft) of living space, no less than 10 very swish bathrooms, and a fresh, contemporary décor that highlights the house's superb original features that include timbered ceilings, carved door frames, and old fireplaces.

It is for sale at €6.5 million through Sherry FitzGerald, where Rosie Mulvany is handling enquiries.

The refurbished mews is aimed at extended families, though it may also suit as offices or consulting rooms. The main house has a self-contained apartment on the ground floor ideal for staff. It includes a sittingroom and kitchen.

The whole sits on an elevated site overlooking Dalkey village and the sea, just minutes from the Dart station and the shops. There is lots of parking in front of the house while the level back garden has kept its original Victorian summerhouse, which can be rotated to catch the sun from any angle.

Inside it's been transformed into a quite stunning home, with big rooms that flow into each other from the central hallway with its timbered ceiling. A sittingroom with a wide bay window stretching almost floor-to-ceiling has double doors leading to a lofty drawingroom with original parquet flooring. From here you walk through to a diningroom which in turn connects to the large airy kitchen with its wall of windows looking out onto a paved patio with steps leading up to the south-facing garden.

Twin tall openings from the kitchen lead through to a family room, while beyond is a great space for an au pair - sittingroom, bedroom and a shower room, with separate access.

Thickly carpeted stairs lead to a landing that opens to the garden.

Theres an impressively large guest bedroom suite here, with three more bedrooms on the first floor. Children will absolutely love the separate wing with two further bedrooms, and steep steps to a wonderful original loft, that would make a perfect games rooms away from the parents.

The mews is completely modern in design, with two bedrooms downstairs along one with one reception room, and, upstairs, a lofted livingroom leading to a patio-style garden.

Santa Maria, Cunningham Road, Dalkey, Co Dublin

Sprawling Victorian house that has been given a €1.25 million makeover. In all it has nine bedrooms and 10 bathrooms.

Agent: Sherry FitzGerald