A house hidden away down a long driveway off Church Road in Greystones – a short walk from the town’s centre – could appeal to someone with deep pockets who loves doing up old properties. Churchview, a 297sq m (3,200sq ft) double-fronted house on an acre of gardens owned by one family for the past 40 years, has been cared for but needs major refurbishment to make it a comfortable modern home.
Probably built in the 1830s, Churchview is now for sale by private treaty through Sherry FitzGerald for €1.3 million. A family of lawyers called Morphy owned it from the 1890s until at least 1958, according to the agent.
It retains many of its original features including delicate plasterwork, deep coving and marble fireplaces with coloured tiles inset. In much of the house it definitely feels as if you're stepping back in time: the garden level, largely abandoned, is very servants' quarters, Downton Abbey-style. An old range sits in the chimneybreast of the kitchen, floored with original red-and-black tiles; a panel of bells is attached to the wall. There are several other large rooms down here including two lined with book-filled bookshelves.
0 of 6
There are several large reception rooms off the parquet-floored ground floor hall which is lined with red flock wallpaper. One of the most impressive is the long drawingroom, also parquet-floored, overlooking the side and back gardens through four tall casement windows, which have working shutters. Others include a diningroom, livingroom and a functional 1970s kitchen.
Upstairs, there’s a small double bedroom with an en suite on the first return and a double and a single bedroom on the first floor.
New owners would most likely reclaim the garden level, refurbishing it as an open-plan kitchen/breakfastroom/sittingroom opening into the garden; they would also add bedrooms and bathrooms.
The house is very private, sheltered all around by tall trees: the garden on the left is a well-maintained tiered lawn. There are a handful of derelict outbuildings behind the house, likely stables from the property’s grander days. A rusty gate in a wall at the right hand side opens into a long overgrown wild garden – through gaps in the hedge, you can glimpse the green space of the neighbouring Hillside housing estate.
Churchview is near the corner with Church Lane, where the landmark St Patrick's Church of Ireland stands. Small white gates on Church Road open into Churchview's driveway, but you wouldn't see the house, which feels as if it could be in the country. Yet it's a short walk from here to restaurants such as The Happy Pear, and the Greystones Dart station.
