Dún Laoghaire: €4mA large Victorian house at De Vesci Terrace in Dún Laoghaire comes to the market this week for the first time since it was built in the mid 19th century.

Number 5, a two-storey over basement house with its original coach-house, has been in the same family since the terrace was first established in the 1840s. One of a central pair of houses on the terrace, it has the de Vesci coat of arms displayed above its parapet.

Currently laid out as a nine-bedroom house, it's for sale by private treaty through Sherry FitzGerald at €4 million.

The current owner grew up in the house and went on to raise her own family here. It's a large family, hence the many bedrooms, but new owners will certainly rearrange the 359sq m (3,860sq ft) to suit themselves.

These are very handsome houses with fine reception rooms on either side of a generous hallway. On one side is a drawingroom with double doors leading to a formal diningroom.

On the other side of the hallway, the matching reception room has been given over to the kitchen - a good idea since it's big enough to hold a crowd and is wonderfully bright with lovely views over the 4.5 acres of communal gardens in front of the terrace. The gardens, which include tennis courts, compensate for the fact that each house only has a small back garden - in most cases just a patio dividing the main house from the original coach-houses. Most of these have been converted into mews houses over the years, but number 5's is still in original condition. It has 53sq m (570sq ft) of space over two floors. The house is now in need of upgrading but, on the plus side, it still has many of its original features intact, including fine plasterwork, wide plank timber flooring, and working shutters to the tall sash windows.