Monkstown: €2m: A large former coach-house has plenty of pretty period details, writes Eivlín Roden

An extended former coach-house on Monkstown Road that was once owned by the Countess de Vesci is expected to make over €2 million at auction through McNally Handy & Partners on November 2nd.

Marino Lodge is now a substantial detached house of 260sq m (2,800sq ft) but at one time it was the coach-house to Hillsborough, a 1740s farmhouse next door. Coincidentally, Hillsborough is also for sale through the Felicity Fox agency with a guide of €1.8 million prior to auction next week.

Marino Lodge was renovated and extended in 1890 for the then Countess de Vesci. As a result, it is a charming mixture of grandiose features and plainer upper rooms. The present owners extended it further with the addition of a self-contained apartment.

Entrance is to the side of the house into a tiled hall with a small study to the left and a large drawingroom to the right. This has two windows, one a big bay facing Monkstown Road. Further light is given to the room from the partially glazed double doors from the hall.

To the back of the hall is a door into a long diningroom with triple sash window in the end wall. This big room has a high art nouveau-style mahogany chimneypiece which extends the width of the wall and incorporates cupboards and a writing desk. A step leads up from here to a kitchen facing the back of the house which in turn leads into a conservatory.

The kitchen has red and black tiles and central island unit and two very ornate plaster columns. Mahogany double doors with stained glass lead out to a sunroom and from here a door leads into a paved patio.

A door from the kitchen leads to the back hall, a toilet with a beautiful stained glass door, and a door into the separate one-bedroom apartment, which also has its own hall door. The livingroom of this is in the oldest part of the house and has thick walls, evident in the windowsills and doorways. Two double bedrooms and a bathroom are on the first floor return and there are four bedrooms on the first floor, all en suite. The two at the front mirror the drawingroom and diningroom below in size and light.

Outside, the front is paved with room for several cars and the small back garden has a tiled patio and steps up to a lawn area.