ON MONKSTOWN’S Victorian Belgrave Square the rows of gleaming white houses and the pristine communal gardens resemble a scene from Dickens. Overlooking it all, and exuding a sense of faded ecclesiastical grandeur, is the eponymous, detached Belgrave House.
For years on this square, many smaller, yet fine residences changed hands for record- breaking sums. Now, a daddy of them all, at over 446sq m (4,800sq ft), Belgrave House comes to the market through Sherry FitgGerald for €1,895,000. (It quietly launched a few weeks ago with the slightly steeper and possibly psychologically deterring pricetag of €2.1 million.) A grander house on the square’s south side sold in recent months for €2.5 million.
Prospective buyers will enjoy sea views across the rooftops to Dún Laoghaire in the distance, while the two-acre gardens at the centre of the square which the residents acquired some years ago will be a major draw for young families.
The annual “pig roast” and the summer sports day are events not to be missed by all accounts.
The 1850s three storey over basement house was acquired 15 years ago when the current owners moved here to raise their young family. The house was set in flats, before they converted it back to a five-bed home. The basement is still comprised of a one- and a two-bed apartment. New owners looking for a lot of room may want to reclaim this space for their own use. The buildings on the square are protected and some interior changes may require permission.
Belgrave House has a dramatic entrance via an unusual limestone and quartz pebble mosaic pavement at the base of wide granite steps, leading up to a sandstone and marble Gothic-style doorway. The owners undertook a major restoration project here, employing a team of six to work on the doorway. Samples of stone were sent to the UK where they were identified as Caen stone, which was used to build Canterbury Cathedral. The striking portico is supported by marble columns and leads through to Portland stone floors and internal granite steps – again a rare sight in a grand home.
The house is comfortably furnished, and retains many of its fine original features. At hall level there are two good-sized, high-ceilinged reception rooms, one a cosy living room (unusual in a house of this size, but well appointed), the other a larger drawing room. Each is bathed in light that pours through enormous triple sash windows, and the restored marble fireplaces are in regular use.
The owner didn’t use an architect or designer for the last renovation, following instead her own instincts, and for the most part she has few regrets. One oversight may have been the inclusion of a partition wall in the drawing room, where a space for double doors once stood. The kitchen currently lies on the other side of the partition, but there is scope to open up the space for living and dining, particularly if the basement comes into play as a kitchen space.
The kitchen is bright and roomy. It could probably do with a revamp, but with grey walls (painted before grey was profitable or popular) a huge sash window, French doors to the garden and an Aga this is one of the nicest rooms in the house and great for everyday living.
To the back at hall level there is a comforable study, a cloakroom with toilet and a small, book-lined understairs return for stolen moments with a book. Here the original stairs to the garden level have been decommissioned.
Off the first floor landing there are four fine double bedrooms, including one with a railed off mezzanine area over a modern en suite. This and the adjoining master bedroom command the best views across the park. The master has a walk-in wardrobe and a fine sized en suite with rain shower unit. A further family bathroom with wainscotting and bath services the other bedrooms.
Every room – including the tiniest areas – has anoriginal window, the highlight being an enormous one floor to rooftop one at the back of the main stairs.
At the top of the house there’s an Alice in Wonderland-
type access to the fifth bedroom where head space is less than six feet at landing level, and the top arch of the huge rear window throws light in at foot level. The large bedroom itself has normal height ceilings and a big window.
The modest sized south west facing rear garden is smaller than you’d expect, and an exercise in practicality. A deck off the kitchen provides a warm spot for herbs and easy access to the barbecue. Further down iron steps, the garden is mainly gravelled for low maintenance, and features mature plants and shrubs, including an impressive maple and climbing rose. A high bamboo fence to the side separates the house from an adjacent large and extended coachhouse-style mews where the previous owners still live.
Belgrave offers a great canvas to start with, and the scope for a revamp at basement level will challenge buyers with big ideas.
