Sandycove four-bed with development potential for €1.6m

A semi-detached house owned by three generations of one family since it was built in the 1920s needs extensive work to modernise it. But standing on a third of an acre of very well-maintained gardens, with a separate small shed-like one-bed at the side, it has potential for extension and/or development, subject to planning permission.

Coolroe, No 30 Castlepark Road, Sandycove, Co Dublin, a 170sq m (1,829sq ft) four-bed close to the junction with Hyde Road and Elton Park, is for sale through Lisney for €1.6 million. The house has many of its original features – cast-iron fireplaces in many rooms, original timber floorboards and service bells in a lobby at the rear harking back to the days when even fairly modest homes had servants. However, it was extended 25 years ago with the addition of a new kitchen.

There’s plenty of space to park in the gravelled front garden of Coolroe, a space surrounded by mature trees and hedging. The facade of pebbledash and yellow Dolphin’s Barn brick is covered with vines; the entrance is at the side of the house.

Inside are two sitting rooms on the left of the hall; the larger has a box bay window overlooking the front, and both have period fireplaces. On the right is a living room that has a mahogany fireplace with tiled inset. It steps down through glazed double doors into a more recently timber-floored dining room: this looks over the back garden, with glazed double doors at one side opening to the garden and stained-glass double doors at the other opening into the kitchen/breakfast room. This has modern units and two Velux windows, and opens into the garden through glazed double doors. There’s a utility room off it with a Belfast sink. Also at this level is a modern bathroom with a step-in shower and a large understairs store.

There are four bedrooms upstairs: one has a box bay window giving a good view of the garden. They have features such as white cast-iron fireplaces and coloured wash-hand basins (one pink, one green); the toilet and small bathroom are separate. There’s a skylight over the landing and several steps up to a large hot press.

The garden is the most attractive feature of the property and it has been well cared for. Mature trees and hedges border a large lawn. There’s a patio beside the house and two garden benches on a small patio farther down at the side of the lawn. The structure at the side of the house – described by agent Lisney as a “small self-contained lodger space” – has a bedroom, kitchenette, shower and small sitting room. Its presence suggests that new owners might get planning permission to build a new, separate house at the side of Coolroe.