Built in 1840, Rockingham Cottage is one of the older houses in Dalkey and it looks every inch the Victorian family house when viewed from the end of its 134ft long rear garden. Its pink walls with white trim and mix of bay and sash windows show it to be a pretty as well as a substantial – 200sq m (2,153sq ft) – period house over three storeys.
From the front though it is single storey and its 1970s pebble-dash walls don’t do it any favours. New owners will certainly change the exterior finish.
That’s not the only thing they’ll change. Rockingham Cottage is an executor’s sale, in the same ownership since the mid 1960s it now requires a top-to-bottom renovation. The front door opens into a small inner porch and then into the hall.
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A room to the right which was probably a reception room has been used as a bedroom with a basic en suite in the corner, while the finest rooms in the house, the interconnecting reception rooms are on the other side of the hall.
Upstairs there are three bedrooms and a bathroom, downstairs a kitchen and pantry and down again a further long-unused room.
While there are some appealing features – such as the original fireplaces in the reception rooms – the buyer will gut the house.
They may also extend to the rear – something that won’t impact greatly on the private and very large garden.
The house is detached, on 0.2 of an acre and, despite its age, is not a protected structure – the sort of details that will have buyers on the lookout for a well-located site eyeing up its potential, all of course subject to planning permission.
Lisney is auctioning Rockingham Cottage on September 21st with an AMV of €950,000.
