Great Georgian keeps quiet about its charms

Sandycove/€6.5m:A secluded Sandycove house built in the 1780s has original details, modern comfort writes Bernice Harrison.

For a substantial Georgian house with nearly 557sq m (6,000sq ft) of living space, Cove House in Sandycove, Co Dublin, is surprisingly well concealed. It's on Sandycove Avenue East but there's no glimpse of it from the road, just electronic gates opening into a long gravelled driveway.

The two-storey over garden level double-fronted, detached house has, however, been here since the 1780s, when it was built by the Earl of Carysfort as a much plainer family home.

Decorative touches such as the granite steps and porch outside and elaborate plasterwork and carved architraves inside were added later, in the Victorian era.

The current owners, who bought the house 10 years ago, have also left their mark by sympathetically renovating the five- bedroom house and improving its internal layout. Cove House also comes with a two-storey coachhouse, with additional living accommodation.

Savills HOK have put an AMV of €6.5 million on the property in advance of its auction on May 2nd.

The owners had past experience of renovating period houses and used this knowledge to completely modernise Cove House without losing any of its original charm. They also had to make sense of the space, wanting, for example, a very large family kitchen and diningroom with good access to the garden instead of the warren of rooms that were down at garden level.

The kitchen was custom built in cherrywood with a four door Aga and modern appliances, such as the large American fridge, have all been incorporated into the design so that they are unobtrusive. The kitchen, which is bright with high ceilings, opens onto a large timber deck. There's also a comfortable dining area, a large well fitted utility room and a family room kitted out as a home cinema.

Upstairs off the fine hall with its original Georgian fanlight are two large reception rooms on either side, each with fine fireplaces, decorative plasterwork and made comfortable by built-in bookshelves. Both rooms have curious anterooms - one is a tiny little room with a fireplace, the other a larger room that may have been a butler's pantry.

A concealed door in the reception room on the left opens into one of the house's surprises, a large first floor conservatory used by the owners mostly for formal dining and with glimpses of the sea. A second, back staircase leads from this conservatory down to a real hallway and the kitchen. There are also several additional storage rooms and cloakrooms.

Up the main staircase is a fine landing with three bedrooms off it. The vast main bedroom has a bank of wardrobes, two doors of which open to reveal a dressing area as well as a full-size en suite with Jacuzzi. There are two more double bedrooms and a luxurious split-level family bathroom with walk in steam/shower-room as well as a free-standing bath.

In the wood-pannelled attic are two more smaller bedrooms, one with access to the roof and so with spectacular views.

The coach-house is linked to the main house via a connecting room but it feels quite separate with a bedroom, bathroom and sauna downstairs and a large open space upstairs.

Outside there's landscaping with a decked area, a formal garden area and parking. There's also a detached double garage.

The house has the usual technical features found at this level, including CCTV and wireless alarm. This fine, very private house is in walk-in condition.