For more than a decade, Linden Lodge was a slowly deteriorating period house on Castlepark Road in Dalkey with a vast garden whose potential had been spotted by developers. When the current owners bought it in 2012 for just €580,000 it came with planning permission for five houses and on condition that the Victorian house be retained.
In a savvy move they sold part of the site at the rear – where there is now one large detached house – and they developed the period house that fronts on to the road for their own use as a large family home. It is that house that is now for sale through JLL for €1,775,000.
The owners didn’t just retain Linden Lodge, which stands on a third of an acre; they considerably enlarged it, adding a large two-storey extension to the rear cleverly linked to the old house by a vast family room whose floor-to-ceiling bi-fold doors open out to the garden. The five-bedroom house now has 278sq m (2,992 sq ft).
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Sunroom
From the front, the single-storey house looks smartly and sympathetically updated with replacement sash windows and a sunroom to the side. Inside, off the hall, is a formal livingroom with period features to the left and, to the right, a bright, well-designed modern eat-in kitchen with two windows looking out to the front garden. It has been fitted with custom-built painted units and a large island unit topped with granite. The kitchen opens through to a utility room and on into the curved sunroom that opens out to the garden.
The link room from the old part of the house to the new build is a bright, contemporary family room. The five bedrooms are in the two storey extension – there are two at ground level, three upstairs. Two of the bedrooms are en suite and there is a good-sized family bathroom, brightly finished with striking blue tiles. A small study completes the accommodation.
Terrific garden
Keeping so much of the site for the original house means that Linden Lodge has a terrific garden and it is clearly the passion of its owners. A wide strip of garden to one side is under grass to make it a child-friendly play space. The grown-up part of the garden is to the right and it features a large patio area, beautifully planted flowerbeds bursting with colour, a pergola, a greenhouse and a section laid out with raised beds filled with herbs and vegetables.
To the front, there is off-street parking for two or three cars.
