Though not long and made up of just three houses, Cliff Terrace in Sandycove was constructed in the early 1860s on lands belonging to the Earl of Wicklow. The builder kept the middle property – Number 2 – for himself, so the house bears the name of the terrace in a roofline plaque.
It was home for 33 years to Jimmy Murakami, the animation director who lived in Ireland from 1970 until his death in 2014. He directed the live action feature Battle Beyond the Stars, on which he gave James Cameron – who won 11 Oscars for Titanic – his first job as art director,and was supervising director for The Snowman, the Bafta-winning, Oscar-nominated film that is one of the best loved animated films of all time.
“He was a really lovely gentleman and called a few times to see the house,” says the current owners. “The builder of the terrace had planted three cordylines at the end of the garden and Jimmy planted three in the garden too, to honour the original builder.”
The current owners purchased the property in 2010 for €2 million, according to the Property Price Register. The previous owner, who had lived at the house after Murakami “did all the work and everything has a purpose, as the whole place is just so well thought out”, say the current owners, who are moving outside Dublin.
Set on two storeys over garden level, the double-fronted house is set back with off-street car-parking to the front. At hall level lie two interconnecting reception rooms on each side of the graceful hallway, with two of the rooms laid out as a study and library.
Downstairs, the kitchen is streamlined with no upper units as all the storage is in the pantry/utility, while a television room, two bedrooms and a shower room also lie at this level. The kitchen/dining area has great light and space, thanks to overhead rooflights in the double-height atrium-style ceiling and concertina doors.
On the top floor, the principal suite stretches the entire breadth of the property with a very large dressingroom adjacent to an en suite bathroom. Two further bedrooms lie at this level, giving five in total in the 252sq m (2,713sq ft) house.
The back garden is a real gem and the owners also credit the former owners for its layout. Besides the cordylines planted by the original builder and later by Murakami, there is a gorgeous granite garden room which the family used quite a bit during lockdown: “Originally we used it for entertaining, for drinks receptions and the like, but during lockdown when the house was a college/school and workplace as well as our home, it became an extra quiet space. It was also used in a television commercial for Lyric FM and the lights from that set are still around the palm trees.”
In front of the garden room, but screened by planting, is a large fire pit that can easily accommodate a dozen for toasting marshmallows, with the rest of the space laid out as lawn and patio. Despite its formal look it is actually a low-maintenance space.
The area needs little introduction and is one of the most desirable locations in south Co Dublin with swims at the Forty Foot just a five-minute walk away. The owners love the ease of maintenance of the property, the Aga in the kitchen and their “really wonderful neighbours”.
Number 2 Cliff Terrace, which is in turnkey condition and Ber exempt, is on the market through Sherry FitzGerald seeking €2.5 million.
