Like many of the houses on Killiney Hill Road, Hamp House is hidden behind automatic gates and high granite walls. It is the location - as well as the sense of privacy - that gives this six-bedroom Victorian house a price tag of £1.1 million prior to auction through JacksonStops on October 4.
The creeper-clad house clearly had a typically genteel Victorian beginning as the half-acre of gardens include a peachery, complete with decorative cast-iron finials on the roof and a separate conservatory. Both were highly fashionable garden features at the beginning of the last century, and very unusual to find intact today. The current owners are clearly keen gardeners, as the conservatory is still filled with fruit-bearing vines, and in the peachery the trees are just coming into fruit.
The house has been in the same hands for the past 10 years and parts of it could now do with some redecoration. Downstairs, on one side of the hallway, there is a large drawingroom with an Italianate marble fireplace. This room is particularly bright as it has three large windows, one to the front of the house, the two others to the side.
On the other side of the hallway is another more informal reception room, which also has its original fireplace. It has been used as a study and has a wall of built-in shelves, but it could easily revert to a formal dining room. The reception rooms and the hallway have their original decorative plasterwork.
The breakfastroom and kitchen are at the back of the house. The breakfastroom doubles as a family room and it has space for a sofa and a large wood-burning stove. This room has a vaulted ceiling and working shutters, along with stripped country style pine units. There is a large utility area beyond the kitchen and a small wine cellar.
Upstairs, there are six bedrooms, four large doubles and two singles. There is also a small room to the front of the house which is currently used as a study but could also convert to an attractive bathroom, en suite to the master bedroom, or a spacious dressingroom. The two bedrooms to the front of the house are the most attractive as they mirror the downstairs livingrooms with windows on two walls. There are two bathrooms.
The new owners will almost certainly redecorate the bedrooms, as the last time they had a makeover was probably sometime in the 1970s. They now have rather dated, builtin wardrobes and general decor. One of the bathrooms has been recently updated but the other one is in need of work.
As well as the very private, lush gardens, filled with mature trees, there is a gravelled driveway with room for several cars.
