Mount View is one of the last, if not the last, of the original residential properties still inhabited in the heart of the Greystones shopping and restaurant area at the Dart station end of Church Road.
A two-storey property set back behind an old stone wall and fuchsia hedge, Mount View still looks much as it must have when built 150 years ago and surrounded by farm fields.
It is a detached house standing in the centre of its garden beside O’Brien’s off-licence. It’s the only family-owned and occupied, purpose-built home that has not doubled as a shop on that side of Church Road.
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Mount View was built in 1864 by the La Touche estate, which oversaw the expansion of Greystones in the 1860s and 1870s after the arrival of the railway in 1855. It has been occupied for extended periods by just three families.
The first was that of Alexander Evans, a merchant whose main home was in Dublin but who lived also at Mount View until 1894. In the first decade of the 20th century, the Stevenson family installed themselves – there and in nearby Helena Cottage (currently up for development) . The family was there until 1958, though sadly not Mr Stevenson, who died in 1912. His widow, Elizabeth Mary, died in 1961.
The next family were the Egans. Head of the house, William, worked at the Provincial Bank. Mrs Egan lived in Mount View until her death in 2013, aged 96, and ran a home into which local children were always welcomed.
She was a moderniser, says son Keith, who still lives in the house, but is now selling with his siblings.
Modernising meant, unfortunately, replacing original fireplaces with tiled gems from the 1950s (they have their place, but perhaps not here). But other than that, the house is very much as built and in good condition for its age, helped by recent redecorating.
There are two good-sized reception rooms, facing front and side, on either side of the centre-set main entrance door and hallway.
The rooms are light-filled, helped by tall sash windows, each with working shutters.
The kitchen is at the rear, down a few steps and to one side. From it, and up a few steps, is what has been used as a playroom and below it is a cellar of similar dimensions. Nearby is a scullery, also of similar size.
A good architect or interior designer could no doubt envision the whole area knocked into one, possibly embracing an adjoining side yard, to give new occupants a modern kitchen-diner-cum-family room area. Upstairs, there are five good-sized bedrooms all with well-maintained sash and shuttered windows, with side and front views.
All internal doors are original. The stair balustrade came from an old schooner, according to Lily, as old Mrs Stevenson was known.
In late summer and autumn, Mount View's front sports the rich red and gold colours of a mature Virginia creeper.
The front and side gardens are a pleasantly old- fashioned mix of trimmed lawn and old beds and are surprisingly secluded, despite the town-centre location.
A side driveway (shared with a cottage to the rear) leads to a garage.
Mount View will no doubt attract development interest because of where it is. Merville, a recently refurbished and tastefully extended family home further along the opposite side of Church Road, shows what can be done without going the commercial route.
The property will be auctioned on Thursday, May 26th, and SherryFitzGerald Greystones is guiding €625,000.
