The previous owners of Hillside, a Victorian house in Foxrock on the corner of Westminister Road and the N11, had a good day on June 14th, 2006. They had put the house on at the height of the market and after a three-week sale campaign it went to auction with an AMV of €4.75 million. Bidding was strong and it sold on the day for €6.6 million. It’s now back on the market, for sale by private treaty through Lisney for €2.5 million.
Viewers who saw it then will find little different in terms of decoration or layout. It’s a fine house, one of the oldest in Foxrock on 0.8 of an acre of mature gardens.
Across a courtyard at the rear, the previous owners converted the outbuildings into a smart two-storey stone mews with living accommodation upstairs and a three-car garage underneath. There’s also a kidney-shaped swimming pool, now empty and a little forlorn looking.
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It’s not difficult to see why this handsome looking house is a protected structure. The entrance is through a limestone portico, framing a fanlight-topped front door. On either side of the hall are the formal reception rooms, two interconnecting ones on one side and a diningroom on the other. All have original decorative cornice work and there are matching white marble fireplaces. Off the diningroom is the eat-in kitchen and this in turn opens into a family room.
There’s also a study and a bathroom at this level. Upstairs there are five bedrooms, four large square-shaped ones and one much smaller single. One of the rooms has an en suite and there is also a shower room, as well as a large family bathroom.
New owners will almost certainly redecorate from top to bottom and they will be attracted by the period features, and the size of the accommodation.
A negative for house hunters might be the close proximity of the N11. It is completely screened from the house – the wraparound gardens are mature, well stocked and attractively old fashioned – but the N11 is a noisy road and rarely empty.
