Dalkey villa at knockdown price needs modernisation

One of four distinctive houses near the Dalkey village end of Coliemore Road comes to the market this week with a price tag that seems modest for the neighbourhood. Number 2 Seafield Terrace is for sale for €645,000 – a price that reflects the fact that the property, owned by one family for almost 60 years, needs complete modernisation.

The house is one of four semi-detached villas built in the 1840s. They come in pairs on either side of an arched entrance to Coliemore Villas, a row of houses behind Seafield Terrace. Number 1 Seafield Terrace was revamped and extended in recent years and rented out – actor Pierce Brosnan lived next door for a few months two summers ago.

Now 2 Seafield Terrace, a 130sq m (1,400sq ft) three-bed, is for sale through Sherry FitzGerald.

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It’s a period house with an unusual layout and a location that’s hard to beat: Seafield Terrace is a short walk to Dalkey village in one direction and to Coliemore Harbour in the other. A downside is that there is no parking with the house, and no on-street parking immediately outside on busy Coliemore Road.

Sea glimpses

Eight wide granite steps lead up to the front door over which there’s a fanlight. On the right of the front hall, there’s a drawingroom with a deep bay window overlooking Coliemore Road at the front, and a room currently used as a double bedroom with a tall sash window at the back. New owners may consider taking down the wall between these rooms to create a larger open plan living space.

A few steps lead down from the back room to another small double bedroom which opens into a bathroom behind it. There are small glimpses of the sea from two tall windows in these rooms.

Fifteen steep steps lead down from the front hall to the garden level accommodation, which can also be accessed from a door under the front steps outside. The owners’ love of books is evident everywhere, with walls in many rooms lined with bookshelves. Accommodation here consists of two rooms to the right of the hall as well as a very small dining room and behind it a kitchen. A door from here opens into a small back garden with high stone walls.

New owners will need fairly deep pockets to revamp and modernise the house, which is a protected structure. The owners of the other half of the semi-detached building have built a large two-storey modern extension at the back of their house, and buyers may explore doing something similar, subject to planning permission.