With a facade of local granite, a beautiful verandah and half an acre of gardens, Liosmor is one of Dalkey's great houses, says Joyce Hickey
Built in the 1870s for one of the clergy of St Patrick's Cathedral, Liosmor on Knocknacree Road in Dalkey is a very special detached home with oodles of space, amounting to 325 sq m (3,500 sq ft) on three levels inside and half an acre of well-tended gardens. Scheduled for auction on June 10th, viewing is by appointment with the agent, Jackson-Stops, which is guiding excess €2 million.
The granite façade - quarried nearby - is set off perfectly by red roof tiles that extend over the two dormers on the second storey and over the wonderful veranda that stretches across the ground floor. From this you enter the house, either directly into the huge drawingroom or into the conservatory, an original part of the house which is usually used for a sunny breakfast.
Liosmor's immense character is apparent immediately and part of its appeal to the current owners, when they bought it 27 years ago, was how well it is suited to entertaining on a large scale. It's easy to visualise the main event taking place in the maple parquet-floored drawingroom, caterers set up in the large kitchen/breakfastroom and diningroom, cosy chats in the library at one end and in the wood-panelled lounge at the other. The lounge - built on by a previous owner - is positioned to take advantage of the evening sun and has a built-in bar. All the reception rooms have working fireplaces and the ceiling plasterwork is in good repair. There is also a downstairs toilet.
On the first floor are four bedrooms and two fully tiled bathrooms, one with an enormous cast-iron bath and separate shower. The bedrooms are all very generously proportioned; each has a sea view and there is lots of built-in storage. A smaller room adjacent to one bedroom is currently used for ironing but could easily be turned into an en suite bathroom or a walk-in wardrobe.
Upstairs again, two further bedrooms were formerly the maid's quarters, but the glorious views would make it very hard to go downstairs to do any work. From these dormer windows, with their stained glass insets, you can see the full sweep of Dublin Bay, and scrutinise every sailor.
Outside, apart from mature planting that invites games of hide-and-seek, a vegetable garden and a large lawn, there is a double garage, and a tarmac driveway with two entrances that fits up to 20 cars. There is also an outside toilet and a shed, formerly used as a doghouse.
Beside the kitchen, the utility room opens to the garden and a separate boiler room is handy for dumping wet clothes and mucky boots in. Few places are lovelier than Dalkey village, which is a short walk away, and while new owners may redecorate Liosmor, the heating, alarm and phone systems are up to date and it would be far more tempting just to sit on that veranda and think about getting around to it.
For a virtual tour of this property clinck on www.nicemove.ie
