Victorian houses on Sorrento with a touch of Italian style

Dalkey/€1.75m & €1.65m: Two good-sized family homes on the same road in Dalkey have period pedigrees and modern comforts. Rose Doyle reports.

Savero, on Sorrento Road, Dalkey, Co Dublin is a classic, semi-detached Victorian house in which a careful restoration has retained many of the original features and added a spacious, open-plan family and kitchen area. It has four reception rooms, five bedrooms and a large kitchen and breakfastroom. The floor area is 289 sq m (3,120 sq ft) with Lisney guiding €1.75m prior to auction on September 16th.

Notable among the retained features are the marble pillars to either side of the entrance porch and its mosaic tiled floor. Inside, most of the original cornice work and doors are intact. A double drawingroom has a Siena marble fireplace, decorative plasterwork and, in the second half, a cast-iron fireplace. The front sittingroom has a bay window, original plasterwork and a period fireplace. It leads through double doors to the diningroom.

The kitchen has a range of units and granite work surfaces including a big central island, while a gas range cooker has been fitted into an original, tiled chimneybreast. Leading directly off the kitchen is a breakfastroom with built-in seating and Liscannor flooring. A family room has a timber floor and French doors to the rear, walled patio.

The family bathroom is on the first floor return. Two of the first floor bedrooms have views over Dublin Bay while the main bedroom overlooks Sorrento Road and Dalkey Hill. The en suite bathroom has a bath with shower.

The top floor bedroom also has Dublin Bay views and timber flooring. A gravelled area to the front allows for off-street car-parking.

Greenaun on Sorrento Road is a large detached home with period pedigree and modern comforts. Once a single-storey Victorian house, it's had a second storey added plus an addition to the ground floor with a Dalkey Design kitchen. The result is some 307 sq m (3,300 sq ft) with four/five bedrooms and five reception rooms. Lisney is quoting €1.65 million for a September 23rd auction.

Many of the original Victorian features, like coving and period fireplaces, have been retained. The use of white and rose Italian marble, cream Italian stone in the hallway, American oak flooring and a design with many windows gives Greenaun a bright feel.

A sittingroom on a mezzanine level has sea views and a panelled ceiling with timber beams. In the drawingroom there are a pair of sandstone fireplaces with gas fires inset. Double French doors open to the rear patio where the sandstone hue is picked up again in Indian sandstone flagstones. The diningroom, leading via double doors to the kitchen and conservatory, has an American oak floor. A study/bedroom on this ground level has a cast-iron fireplace while a cloakroom has an Italian pink marble-tiled floor. There is a shower room on this level too and, off the lower hallway, a wet bar, utility room and storage area. Also on the ground floor there is a family/playroom and an en suite bedroom with a walk-in dressingroom.

The main en suite bedroom has windows overlooking Dalkey Hill - the en suite includes a steam room. The third and fourth bedrooms have en suite shower rooms.