With an entrance hallway in the style of a minstrels' gallery, Kinvara, a large modern detached house on Temple Road, Dartry, makes an immediate impact. The five-bedroom house is set in gardens bordered by laurels and miniature conifers.

Selling agent Geralyn Byrne of Sherry FitzGerald expects a price in excess of £1.1 million at auction on May 31st. Temple Road has a fine Victorian pedigree. It was said, in the l880s, to be the "refuge of highly respectable business people". Today it could be called a refuge for the very wealthy: its large detached houses are among the most sought-after in Dublin.

Kinvara was built almost a century later than most of its neighbours, in the early l940s, and has recently been completely refurbished and extended by its owners. The resulting house is large, 2,700 sq ft, bright and extremely comfortable.

The large hall has a marble fireplace and the whole area has been opened up by the removal of part of the firstfloor ceiling. The stairs can be seen winding to the first and second floors, lit by high windows with coloured, leaded glass insets.

The oak floor extends into the reception rooms and there is a dado rail and central chandelier, which will remain. Off the hallway is a guest lavatory.

A family room, to the front, has a marble fireplace with elaborate cast-iron inset and leads, via leaded-glass double doors, to a drawingroom in which there is another ornate, white marble fireplace.

Glass doors lead from here to a conservatory which has a tiled floor and is encircled by the garden. There is a formal dining room as well as a dining area in the sizeable country style kitchen with pine units and an exposed brick arch housing a cooker. Off the kitchen is a utility room.

Four of the bedrooms are off the first-floor landing, while the fifth is a secondfloor attic room. It has a large Velux window and a curved, built-in bedhead, matching the shelving, wardrobes and desk/work unit.

Under-eaves storage runs from here through to the en suite shower room which has an oak floor, generous shelving and black and white tiling and fittings. The main bedroom, on the floor below, has a bank of fitted wardrobes and an en suite shower room, while one further bedroom has en suite facilities including a sauna.

The back garden is bounded by ivy-clad walls and has an ample lawn and an outhouse with electrical points and window. The walls are ivy-clad and bounded with laurel.