Avoca Lodge, on Avoca Avenue, Blackrock, Co Dublin, is a big, sturdy Victorian house which has been owned by the same family for 24 years. The detached, two-storey over garden level family home has an almost tangible atmosphere of solidity and integrity.
The rooms are luxuriantly large and most have windows on more than one side; the inner walls are a foot thick and the ceilings are pleasantly lofty. Even the old-fashioned decor lends an air of comfortable authority.
But such period character does not come cheap, particularly when it comes with gardens of 0.8 acres. The fourbedroom, detached house, which goes to auction on June 27th, carries a guide price of £2 million, and may command a good deal more on the day. Allen & Townsend and the Gorey-based Allen & Kenny are joint agents for the 4,000 sq ft house, which comes with some small outbuildings.
After the narrow gateway, almost everything about the property is big and generous: a wide expanse of gravel is bordered by a sweeping lawn and venerable trees. Broad granite steps lead to the stout front door and a high vestibule with arched niches on either side. Further in, the airy hallway is clad in floral wallpaper.
The house is curiously asymmetric, with the main rooms on the left hand side, and minor, narrow ones on the right. The huge diningroom (24 feet by 18 feet) at the front of the house has a south-facing bay window, a second window, facing east and a black marble mantelpiece imparts an important mood to the room. Behind, the large drawingroom, papered in a midnight-blue Chinoiserie pattern, has a white marble mantelpiece and three windows, including a west-facing bay.
Across the hall from these two principal rooms there is a small lavatory and a butler's pantry, the latter with a dumb-waiter descending to the lower floor. Down a few steps, in the rear return, there is a study with a door leading out to a black-and-red tiled patio, once the base of a greenhouse.
At the lowest level, there are a number of minor rooms, as well as a sizeable family room and a spacious, but cosy kitchen, warmed by an Aga. Despite having three windows, this is a slightly dark room, but the cheering eye-level view of a vast expanse of lush lawn (formerly a tennis court), makes up for the lack of light. At the top of the house there are four bedrooms and a bathroom. Only one of the rooms, probably originally a nursery, is small. The others are immense, old-fashioned bedrooms with charming antique furnishings.
The extensive gardens that wrap around the house include a gravelled courtyard with a double garage and outbuildings, and several lawned areas. An orchard is filled with spreading fruit trees.
