A five-bedroom Georgian house on one of the most dramatically beautiful sites in the Baily area of Howth, Co Dublin, comes on the market this week as the main auction selling season moves into top gear. The two-storey house, The Tansey, near the end of Ceanchor Road, has eight acres of terraced gardens, sweeping lawns and giant rocks crowned with wild heather - all located in a glorious enclave of land rippling down to a private beach. Iain Finnegan of Finnegan Menton says the quality of the house, plus the sheer beauty and size of the grounds, makes it one of the best coastal houses to be offered for sale in Dublin for many years.
Although the agents are quoting a guideline price of over £3 million (€3.81m) for the May 16th auction, it could make considerably more given its exceptional appeal. The Tansey and an adjoining house on Ceanchor Road, Drumleck, are among the few Dublin houses with such large gardens on the water's edge. Even more rare in Dublin is the farm which runs along the opposite boundary of The Tansey.
The privacy and secluded nature of the house is underlined by a curved driveway which ends on a gravelled forecourt. The site for the house was carefully chosen in the 1740s. It is sheltered to the rear by high rocks and the main reception rooms and the principal bedrooms catch the sun for most of the day. It is a comfortable and manageable house, covered in Virginia creeper and focussed on the gardens and the coastline from Bray to Sandymount. There are four main reception rooms, a conservatory, five bedrooms and three bathrooms with more than 4,600 sq ft of floor space. A range of buildings at one side of the house could easily be converted into guest accommodation providing the planners give their consent.
Some of the reception rooms are particularly handsome. The drawingroom has a Bossi-style fireplace, a full-height window to the front and a box window to the side with French doors leading out into a lovely old walled garden. The diningroom on the opposite side of the entrance hall is equally pleasant with a delicately carved Adams-style wooden fireplace and original wooden floor. Most activity in the house seems to centre around the livingroom, which has a broad bay window to the front and glazed doors opening into a small but functional kitchen to the rear. The livingroom also leads into a good-sized conservatory at the side of the house. There is a games room which doubles as an office. Upstairs, there is a particularly comfortable main bedroom with separate dressingroom and en suite bathroom. Like the reception rooms, all the main bedrooms have wonderful views over the gardens and Dublin Bay. Visually, it is the most stunning piece of real estate to hit the Dublin market for quite some time.
