Bella Vista is a large, 1890s house on Bray’s seafront known for its iconic viewing balcony. Like any house with 120 years of history, Bella Vista has a story which owners Geraldine and Pat Cleary tell very well.
“Bella Vista was built for his mistress by the one-time Lord Mayor of Dublin, Joseph Meade,” Geraldine says. “The railway meant he could get to Bray easily. His wife heard about it and demanded a house in Bray also, so he built her what is now in part the nearby Esplanade Hotel.”
Bella Vista, at another point in its history, was a hotel. The Clearys bought the property in 1996 for under €200,000. Agent Sherry FitzGerald is quoting €775,000 for its private treaty sale.
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Bella Vista has been a family home for the Clearys and their six children. Much loved by all the family, its original features have been carefully preserved and refurbished where necessary.
“We took out windows and had them releaded, did a mountain of work, but didn’t change any original features,” Geraldine says.
This is obvious in the first-floor livingroom where there is highly ornate cornicing, an enormous ceiling rose picked out in gold, marble fireplace, picture rail and, most notably, the lookout balcony – reached via a lantern/turret with leaded glass, made safe with cast-iron and giving views that sweep from Lambay and Howth across to Bray Head.
The diningroom, from where a wide front window with coloured glass inserts give promenade and sea views, is on the ground floor. Here there is an elaborate centre rose, cornicing, marble fireplace and working shutters.
Stained glass images over the front door show a damsel with harp on a dolphin astride the waves, a motif followed through on other stained glass inserts.
The familyroom and a kitchen are on a lower ground floor and lead, via a patio door, to an enclosed, sunny yard/garden with storage shed and outside toilet. A new owner is likely to revamp this area of the house.
The main bedroom is on the first floor, a second on the first return, and third on the second floor. An apartment on the third floor has two bedrooms, a kitchenette, bathroom and livingroom with further sweeping views.
