KILLINEY:€4.95M This house sits on 1.18 acres of woodlands and gardens on Church Road, Killiney. The refurbished 1830s house has a gentle grandeur, writes Rose Doyle
DEEP IN ITS own woodlands, Harrow House, Church Road, Killiney, Co Dublin, has all the privacy with which it began life in the early 1830s as well as a gentle grandeur that's timeless.
A curved and shady avenue leads to the front door which is solid and original to its shining brasses. It is surrounded by a latter-day wisteria and mirrors an interior where period features fit with contemporary comforts to do the honours for both centuries.
None of which is accidental or even down to luck: the owners have put time and a lot of hard work into refurbishing Harrow House since they bought it 13 years ago.
Reroofed and mostly returned to its original layout, windows, shutters, floors, doors, plasterwork and fireplaces have either been refurbished or carefully replaced.
The result is a congenial, light-filled house where a floor area of 274sq m (2,950sq ft) has four to five bedrooms, two reception rooms and large, open-plan kitchen/breakfast/family room.
On 1.18 acres filled with trees of all kinds, lush cottage-style gardens and lawns, the house is for sale by private treaty through Sherry FitzGerald for €4.95 million.
Earlier owners too have loved and left their mark on Harrow House, notably the scholar and musician Walter Fitzwilliam Starkie, TCD's first professor of Spanish. Born in 1894, he recalls in his autobiography how his "earliest memories" were of Harrow House, "the grassy slope to the back" and "sunlit sea in the distance".
The core of the Harrow House style is in the ground floor dining and drawing rooms. The diningroom in particular, where there are wide floorboards, deep red walls and a marble fireplace, has a real feel of 19th century dining about it. It runs the length of the house, and a long rear window opens to give access to the garden and patio beyond.
The drawingroom has a similar 19th century elegance and has the cachet of a carefully restored black marble fireplace. The kitchen/breakfast/family room is to the other side of the entrance hallway. There's an Aga and a tall hand-crafted cupboard which houses the fridge and other necessities. All of the bedrooms have original floorboards. The main, front-facing bedroom is a lovely room in which garden views are integral - even visible through the glass-paned doors of the en suite.
Harrow House, Church Road, Killiney, Co DublinAn 1830s four/five bedroom house sitting on 1.18 acres
Agent:Sherry FitzGerald
