Racy house with Leopardstown views

A detached architect-designed house on Torquay Road in Foxrock has views of a racecourse and the Dublin hills

PAROUSIA, MIDWAY along the winding and very leafy Torquay Road, Foxrock, Dublin 18, is a detached two-storey house full of light, interesting spaces and architectural design quirks. Just 20 years old, and taking advantage of an unimpeded, south-west facing aspect, all of its living areas are positioned to catch the sun.

A granite wall at the rear of the garden originally ran along the old Harcourt Street railway line. Beyond that there’s the rolling green of Leopardstown Racecourse.

A coolly elegant house, redbrick and only slowly revealing of its design subtleties, Parousia was designed by David Sheehan of architects Sheehan Barry and built by Keegan Construction in 1991.

Surrounded by almost an acre of cared-for garden, it has a floor space of 330sq m (3,550sq ft), five bedrooms, three reception rooms, open-plan kitchen/family room and a 93sq m (1,000sq ft) detached, recreational area.

Sherry FitzGerald is looking for €2.5 million for Parousia, which is for sale by private treaty.

The double front doors open to a symmetrical entrance hall where there are matching pairs of doors and a gallery-like feature that goes all the way up to a long skylight in the roof. The maple floors throughout work well with the smooth, limed oak-surrounded fireplaces and doors.

Long, unexpected windows let in pools of light, doors have heavy rectangular handles, all of the living spaces overlook the open green of the racecourse and the dazzle of the garden plants and sun-facing gazebo.

The kitchen/family room opens to a white-painted sunroom with marble-tiled floor. The open-plan dining/sittingroom has a deep bay window in the dining area and a limed oak fireplace with black slate inset in the sitting area. A glass door leads to a circular patio.

A relaxed study/TV room to the front of the house deliberately eschews the distractions of the garden, a curved first-floor landing gives expansive hall views and a hot-press on the same landing is large enough to double as a dressing room.

The main, en suite bedroom has the best views in the house of gardens and racecourse. An en suite guest bedroom is yellow and blue and a third bedroom has a bay window mirroring that in the dining-room below. Almost all materials are Irish and the built-in fittings in bedrooms, bathrooms and kitchen are by John Daly of Castleblayney.