Who wouldn’t jump at the chance to own a fine period residence with private beach access? Especially if the house was just a hop, skip and a jump away from Dublin’s city centre, and a pebble’s throw from the village of Sandymount? Whoever buys Ealand Lodge on the Strand Road in south Dublin will have the entire sweep of Sandymount Strand at their back door — all they have to do is step through the wrought-iron gate and on to the strand, and every day can be Bloomsday.
Ealand Lodge is a single-storey house built around 1800, and sits on a large site of 0.18 hectares (0.45 acres) on the Merrion Gates end of Strand Road. It’s the last in the row of beachfront houses along that part of the road, so it’s just a short stroll to the start of the promenade. Visiting the house on Bloomsday, the revellers could be seen in the near distance parading in their period finery. The house is an executor sale, and its owner lived there all her life; her nephew recalls spending happy summer days at his aunt’s house when he would lug a Zodiac dinghy down to the strand, and evenings when he’d look out onto the Baily lighthouse and the passing ships.
The house extends to 218sq m (2,347sq ft) and has been well maintained over the years, with all the original cornicing, ceiling coving, picture rails, centrepieces and window shutters in good order. The front garden is landscaped with mature shrubbery and plants, and surrounded by a cut-stone wall, with pebbled driveway and parking for up to six cars. There are two generous reception rooms, one with a feature marble fireplace and sliding patio doors. These open out to a very wide rear garden with a sweeping lawn big enough for a football match — although you’d probably be running down to the strand every few minutes to retrieve the ball.
The house has four bedrooms, one with a mahogany feature fireplace and two of them looking out on to Sandymount Strand. All the rooms have double-glazed windows, helping to shut out traffic noise — although since heavy vehicles are no longer permitted to use the Strand Road, there is little enough noise to begin with. The windows let in lots of light, and with nothing overlooking the house, there’s all-day sunlight in the garden.
To the rear is a breakfast nook and a kitchen with maple Shaker-style units and a door leading out to the spacious back garden. There is a large double garage to the rear, which is accessible via a second driveway leading out to the Strand Road. and block-built sheds and outhouses for more than adequate storage. A narrow flight of stairs leads up to an attic space that has been converted to a family bathroom.
This part of the house feels rather higgledy-piggledy, and new owners are likely to build a big, modern extension to the rear, while completely freshening up the old part of the house and improving on its D2 Ber rating. There’s certainly enough space to extend, and this property offers a unique opportunity for someone with imagination to create an enviable home in a prime location that blends vintage and modern — and taps straight into the timeless appeal of Dublin Bay.
Ealand Lodge, with 50m beach frontage and private gated access to Sandymount Strand, is for sale through DNG Donnybrook with an asking price of €1.75 million.
