Rural scope in Foxrock for shy of €5m

There's a lot of the country house about Stanford House, even though it is on Westminster Road just off the N11. The vast Victorian property in Foxrock could, the agents Sherry FitzGerald say, be sold in various lots. Either in its entirety – house and all its land (2.9 acres) for €4.95 million, or the property could be divided, with the house on 1.55 acres, asking €3.95 million and the 1.35 acre paddock to the rear asking €1 million. The paddock will not be sold prior to the house.

“A division into lots”, “a paddock” – it’s the language more common to vast piles deep in the country which is what Stanford House was when it was built in 1865 and indeed what it still looks like. And there are other features that make this now suburban house sound grandly rural. It has a coach house, stables and stone outhouses and an enclosed courtyard.

As well as the paddock – the most recent owners, like all that went before them in this lovely house kept horses – there are three gardens: a formal garden to the side, the large front garden which sets the house well back from the road and includes a sweeping driveway and a walled garden which was once a vast vegetable garden.

Renovations and extensions
It's an executor's sale and Stanford House has been in the same family since 1955. They clearly modernised and extended, especially in their early years there – and new owners will do the same. The house now, once again, needs work so buyers will have to factor in both a considerable renovation period and budget.

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Not that it needs more space – at 390sq m (4,200sq ft) it’s large – but they may want to redo an ugly looking, and not very practical, single storey extension at the back and improve access from kitchen out to the lovely side garden. They will also want to do something interesting with the beautiful stone stables – inside they are still intact which is rare – and the other derelict stone outbuildings.

Stanford House was built as part of the first wave of building in Foxrock in what was the beginning of the development of the area into a “garden suburb.”

The internal layout follows a pleasing symmetry copied from the Georgians. The rooms, while large, aren’t so big as to be off-putting. Downstairs off the wide hallway there are four well-proportioned reception rooms, some with dual aspect. Off the back hall are several smaller rooms, including a games room and laundry, and the owners added on a large, modern eat-in kitchen to the side.

Upstairs there are six bedrooms, four very large rooms mirroring the room-sizes downstairs and two smaller ones, as well as a family bathroom.

The paddock is at the back. It’s fringed with trees and stone walls and is accessed from the front of the house to the side past the stables.

At one time it would have been snapped up by developers – and it might prove attractive to a builder looking for a prime location who has funds to figure out good access and go through planning – but it would not be a surprise if it remains undivided from the main property and is bought along with the house.