Seamount House, Seamount Road, Malahide, Co Dublin
Status: On the market since July, seeking €6 million through Sherry FitzGerald.
When I came to the end of Seamount Road in Malahide and saw this beautiful chateauesque building, I was quite blown away. At the end of a cul-de-sac that is mostly made up of 1970s bungalows and new developments, a mansion of this stature is unexpected.
It was built in the early 1800s on the Talbot estate and used as a summer house by the Jamesons, of whiskey fame. After a fire in 1905 that destroyed much of the original building, it was rebuilt as this neo-Elizabethan property.
It has been well looked after by its current owners, with so many breathtaking features, including an original stained-glass window with the Jameson coat of arms; a hand-painted coffered ceiling in one of the reception rooms; windows with the original stone surrounds; the tastefully renovated kitchen with original quarry floor tiles; and the principal bedroom suite with an oval window on each side of the bed, as well as a bay window looking out to the sea. Read our full review here. Alison Gill
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15 Marlborough Road, Donnybrook, Dublin 4
Status: On the market since September, seeking €2.5 million through DNG.
As soon as I stepped through the front door of this terraced Victorian four-bed in Donnybrook, I knew it would be a contender for my favourite house of the year. The quality of the materials used in the most recent renovation and the owner’s attention to detail and deep interest in historical interiors elevated this property to something beyond the norm.
Featuring rich walnut floors, stained glass inspired by Frank Lloyd Wright, gold Zoffany wallpaper and marble radiator covers in the hall, doors throughout of solid walnut, chandeliers and ornate mirrors – it was clear a vast amount of thought had been invested in this house. Original features also shone, such as the marble fireplaces, cornicing and the staircase.
I particularly loved the use of stained glass throughout the house, and the warm sandstone fireplaces in the sittingroom and main bedroom. A Hamptons conservatory spanning the back of the house would be perfect for entertaining, with a feature wall of Verde marble, a green built-in bar and an aircraft cowling fashioned into an overhead light, all anchored by a wall of stone. The house had plenty of extra accommodation, with a converted attic and a spacious two-bed mews in the decked garden. Read our full review here. Miriam Mulcahy
The Old Schoolhouses, Manor Kilbride, Blessington, Co Wicklow
Status: On the market since September, seeking €835,000 through Lisney Sotheby’s International Realty.
Surrounded by a blanket of old Scots pine, you could feel tucked away from the rest of the world at these converted old schoolhouses in Co Wicklow, yet the charming town of Blessington is just five miles away, while Manor Kilbride village is just up the road.
The property contains two houses; the first is a one-bedroom house, while the second is a four-bedroom inverted home with reception areas upstairs to maximise the verdant views. It is a calm, peaceful retreat – where you have the choice to use the one-bedroom house as a primary residence and keep the four-bedroom unit for guests, or the other way around.
What is also remarkable is the longevity of good design. Renovated all of 50 years ago, the transformation has withstood the test of time thanks to the clever eye of architect Stuart Young, and the magical gardens are the result of great planning by amateur architect and art collector Basil Goulding. Read our full review here. Elizabeth Birdthistle
Glencarrig, Falls Road, Shankill, Dublin 18
Status: On the market since May, seeking €3.25 million through Sherry FitzGerald.
I’ve seen a few decent gaffs this year, but the one that has really stuck with me is Glencarrig in Shankill, south Co Dublin, an architect-designed contemporary home measuring 355sq m and built to blend beautifully with its sylvan surrounds.
From the entrance side, it’s an unprepossessing place behind a yellow-brick facade. Walk around to the back of the house, though, and you find a futuristic gem jutting out over an acre of gorgeous, sloping landscaped gardens, with a large, cantilevered living/diningroom as a prominent architectural feature. If Glencarrig looks familiar, that’s because architect Joan O’Connor built it in tribute to her late father, the renowned architect Ronnie Tallon, who designed the award-winning home in Foxrock where Joan and her siblings grew up.
Glencarrig’s reception rooms and bedrooms are all orientated towards the south to maximise sunlight, with full-height glazing and terraces all the way across. The house feels so well connected with the gardens and attuned to the changing seasons. Nothing is sacrificed in the name of architecture – the interiors are designed for comfortable, convenient family living, with the bedrooms to one side and the kitchen/dining/family areas on the other. Read our full review here. Kevin Courtney
Mount Mapas, Victoria Road, Killiney, Co Dublin
Status: On the market since June, seeking €10 million through Lisney Sotheby’s International Realty.
Unobstructed views of Killiney Bay and steeply tiered formal gardens divided by Vico Road are the standout feature of Mount Mapas, a 585sq m (6,300sq ft) six-bed on 1.25 acres in Killiney, Co Dublin. Anyone who has walked up Vico Road from Killiney beach may already have seen the gardens, which slope down to a secret garden from which there’s access to Killiney beach.
The pretty pink Georgian house to which the gardens belong is hidden behind a high, curved stone wall. Built some time after 1797, it was extensively renovated after being bought in 1997 by its late owner. Lavishly decorated in period style, it has been meticulously maintained and has unexpected features such as a steam shower in the main en suite, a sauna and central vacuuming. Mount Mapas also has its own well, with a pump, and two gardeners are employed full-time to tend to the series of sloping lawns surrounded by tall trees and richly planted beds. Read our full review here. Frances O’Rourke
Ardeevin House, Bantry, Co Cork
Status: On the market since September, seeking €1.45 million through Sherry FitzGerald O’Neill.
The name of this house, Ardeevin, dating from the 1860s, is apt. From the anglicisation of the Irish árd aoibheann, meaning beautiful height, it sits overlooking the local waters of Bantry Harbour and surrounding pasturelands. It occupies 6.5 hectares (16 acres) at the edge of the wild Atlantic.
Of note besides the location are the property’s Victorian embellishments, such as spiked finials that punctuate the roofline, deep architraves and some lovely original tiling in the hallway. Even its entry on the National Built Heritage Service website notes the 239sq m property as being an “elegantly composed 19th century house, which retains much original fabric”. Of further interest are superb cut-stone outbuildings that frame a rear courtyard, that have potential to be reimagined as guest suites or studios. In addition to the five-bedroom house, the property includes a two-bedroom Ivy Cottage (68sq m) which predates the main house.
Despite its rural location – which is a 10-minute walk to a picture-postcard beach and bathing spot – the charming Ber-exempt house is close to Bantry town. Read our full review here. Elizabeth Birdthistle
4 Cumberland Street, Dún Laoghaire, Co Dublin
Status: Came to the market in May seeking €850,000 through DNG. Sold in September for €861,000, according to the Property Price Register.
The former owners of this two-bedroom home took a shop with living quarters above it and transformed it into a stunning, architecturally interesting home full of delightful surprises. Dating back to 1905, the redbrick home is in the heart of Dún Laoghaire, walking distance from the shops and cafes of the town.
One of the former owners, a yacht captain, took clever storage ideas from boats and implemented them into the design of the home, executed under the guidance of Peter Carroll of A2 Architects. The home featured timeless natural materials and extensive glazing to optimise natural light. As well as the sleek birch-ply kitchen, my favourite room was the upstairs livingroom, which opened out to a roof terrace. Read our full review here. Jessica Doyle
Bedford Lodge, Mount Prospect Road, Clontarf, Dublin 3
Status: On the market since May, seeking €2.95 million through Sherry FitzGerald.
Built as a country residence in the early 1800s, Bedford Lodge in Clontarf sits on the edge of St Anne’s Park facing out to Dublin Bay. It was owned by the Guinness family for 85 years before they sold it, along with the near 500-acre park, in 1939. It went on to become the headquarters of Dublin City Council’s parks and landscape department until it was sold to its current owners in 1995.
Now renovated, restored and extended, the 536sq m two-storey-over-basement Georgian beauty is hidden away off Mount Prospect Road. The 0.24 hectare (0.6-acre) garden is a thing of beauty, with mature trees creating a screen around it. After all these years, with a suburb now built up around it, it still feels completely like a private country residence, with the modern world just outside the gate. Read our full review here. Alison Gill
The Old Lock House, Mullantine, Rathangan, Co Kildare
Status: Came to the market in September seeking €480,000 through DNG McCormack. Property has since gone sale agreed.
This beautiful period lock house in Rathangan, a short drive from Kildare town, was brimming with character, with a rustic interior featuring exposed brickwork and wooden ceiling beams. With three bedrooms, the home was brought to the market in impeccable condition.
The substantial back garden featured lawned areas, a sheltered bike store, a workshop and a wooden pergola for sitting outside. It was also home to two accommodation pods – each with a kitchen and bathroom – in a structure cleverly designed to resemble a barge to the rear of the garden, overlooking the canal. Read our full review here. Jessica Doyle
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Glenfield, Thornhill Road, Bray, Co Wicklow
Status: Came to the market in March, seeking €1.795 million through Knight Frank. It sold in September for €1.75 million, according to the Property Price Register.
In the same part of Bray as my mother’s childhood home on Old Connaught Avenue, nostalgia for times past and houses long-disappeared almost certainly affected my reaction to this beautiful 1840s house, with the same views of the Sugarloaf, extensive gardens and established, towering trees as my grandparents’ home.
Slate-covered on one side, with a new extension built in the 1930s, it was an exquisite combination of late-Georgian features and Arts and Crafts influences, combining to create an effortlessly relaxed yet elegant five-bed home. The reception rooms flowed into each other, the pine kitchen was homely and comforting, the main bedroom and study on the first floor had views of the Sugarloaf, framed by a giant Spanish Chestnut.
Well-tended, magnificent gardens upped the allure; set over two acres and laid out as a series of outdoor rooms, they included lawns, a walled garden, rose garden, structured beds to the front of the house and, at its side, a summer house that had hosted many parties over the 35 years the former owners had lived there. Read our full review here. Miriam Mulcahy
Pembrokestown House, Gaulstown, Butlerstown, Co Waterford
Status: On the market since April, now seeking €2.9 million through Sherry FitzGerald.
This property is exceptional. Anchored by a Regency home, dating from 1814, the 4.45 hectare (11 acre) property also features a renovated coach house containing two apartments and a stable block converted to contain two bedrooms and a changing area. The interiors throughout are immaculate. All the buildings are set around a showstopping landscaped courtyard with a 25m pool. It is located a 20-minute drive from Waterford city. Read our full review here. Jessica Doyle
5 Rus-In-Urbe, Glenageary Road Lower, Glenageary, Co Dublin
Status: Came to the market in May through Sherry FitzGerald with an asking price of €2.25 million. Sold in November for €2.15 million.
When Thelma Mansfield’s south Dublin home came for sale at the beginning of the summer, our writer noted how the bespoke group of six Georgian-era houses in which the artist and former RTÉ broadcaster’s property is located is appropriately named Rus-in-Urbe, describing it as “a piece of the French countryside in the heart of bustling Dún Laoghaire”.
Set 30m back from Glenageary Road, Mansfield’s substantial five-bedroom home is replete with original period detail, from the fanlight and sidelights above its front door to its sash windows and the intricate ceiling coving and centre roses in its hall, drawingroom, diningroom and bedrooms.
The house’s country-style kitchen laid with original quarry tile floors and fitted with bespoke cabinetry painted in a Farrow & Ball Hardwicke White meanwhile transports the visitor to the warmer and sunnier climes of the south of France. That Mediterranean theme continues in the landscaped gardens to the front and rear of this home, where the combination of colourful agapanthus, wisteria, olive trees and a fig tree are a joy to behold, particularly on a bright summer’s day. Read our full review here. Ronald Quinlan
