Rambling Regency villa in Blackrock

A charming Regency villa with around half an acre on the corner of Mount Merrion Avenue and South Hill Avenue, Blackrock, is expected to make £2 million-plus at a Sherry FitzGerald auction on October 12th.

Built around 1800, the sixbedroom house has a rambling layout, with rooms on four levels and a total floor area of 3,200 sq ft. An original semi-detached coach house has an additional 600 sq ft.

One of a pair of houses that mark the entrance to South Hill Avenue, Hamilton Lodge has a secluded feel though it is only feet away from a busy main road.

There is plenty of off-street parking in front of the house and around to the side, in front of the coach-house.

The double fronted house has steps leading up to the front door which is flanked by tall sash windows with intricate glazing bars.

Inside, the hall is instantly welcoming with its red papered walls and crimson carpet. On either side, double doors lead to the two formal reception rooms, the drawingroom on the left and the diningroom on the right. These are gorgeous rooms, decorated in shades of powder pink, that the owner has carefully furnished in Regency style.

A third set of double doors lead from the main hall through to a rear hallway with stairs leading down to the kitchen and other rooms, and up to the bedrooms. There are three bedrooms on the top floor. The first is a very feminine room with built in corner wardrobes made from old glazed doors backed in rose red toile de jouy. The main bedroom is a big sunny room at the side of the house, fronting on to Mount Merrion Avenue. It has a wide bow window and a second window overlooking the back garden. A cast-iron fireplace is fitted with a Godin stove.

Off this bedroom is a large en suite dressing room and bathroom combined. The lavatory is concealed in a throne like seat with an old fashioned cistern suspended overhead.

The third bedroom is a small double with its own fireplace and twin fitted pine wardrobes. The family bathroom is another period piece with an antique lavatory and a bath on claw feet.

The lower level works extremely well with the kitchen at the centre of things, and two further reception rooms. The kitchen is a stunning country style room with a central pine island unit, an Aga cooker fitted into a tiled niche with carved pine overmantel, and a breakfast area fitted into the bow window. French doors lead out to a west facing patio.

Off the kitchen is a cosy family room with burgundy walls and an ancient cast-iron range fitted into the fireplace.

Across the hall is a study and here again the cast-iron fireplace is fitted with a Godin gas fired stove.

At a lower level still, the original kitchen and pantries of the house have been converted to three compact bedrooms. The original flags and quarry tiles are covered in the same coir matting that carpets most of the rooms.

At kitchen level, a side door leads out to a creeper-clad yard with the coach-house on one side, and an enclosed courtyard on the other. The courtyard, which leads off the kitchen, has an old wrought iron gate leading to the property's best kept secret - a hidden garden bound by old granite walls, its stretch of lawn dotted with fruit trees.