The two-acre gardens hidden away down a long driveway off Killiney Hill Road are the standout feature of this property, although the pretty, early 19th-century house looking over its rolling lawn has attractive period features and sea views from Killiney Bay to Bray Head and the Sugar Loaf.
Carrickmoleen on Killiney Hill Road is a 415sq m (4,467sq ft) two-storey five-bed for sale through agent Owen Reilly for €4 million. It was previously on the market in 2021 with another agent for €4.25 million. It has been owned by relatively few families since it was built in 1810; the family selling it now have lived here since 1978, and the previous owner, one of the Weirs jewellery family, had lived here since 1928. Some older neighbours remember going to the preschool that they ran in an old coach house in the 1950s. Another previous owner was John Mooney, a member of the Irish Parliamentary Party and an MP at Westminster from 1900 to 1918, who lived here from 1891.
What would once have been a Georgian house has been adapted over the years: large bay windows replaced the original straight exterior and a balcony was added. Most recently, the house was completely re-roofed in 2018, gutters replaced, chimneys completely re-rendered and the balcony across the front of the house rebuilt with mahogany. The owner’s son has rebuilt two large greenhouses. The house has oil-fired central heating; there are 20 cast-iron radiators in the house, all recently cleaned. It has a G Ber.
The house, which is not a listed building, has been carefully maintained, but new owners might revamp the large 1980s kitchen and upgrade bedrooms by adding en suites. Aside from that, there’s plenty of potential to expand. The 80sq m (861sq ft) coach house and garage could be rebuilt as separate accommodation. The property also has development potential; new owners could sell roughly one acre of the lawn beyond the hedge that divides it as there’s plenty of scope to build on it, subject to planning permission.
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A front porch leads to a front door with original stained-glass inset; the entrance hall has elaborate cornicing and a decorative arch – mirrored by one over the first return – to an inner hall. Large, airy reception rooms with high ceilings and cornicing open off either side of the front hall. A livingroom on the left has a handsome marble fireplace, a large bay window with a window seat at the front, a second window at the side and a large, heavy safe dating from the Weirs’ time built into the wall. The bay window has a view across the garden but could have sea views if new owners were willing to cut down a few trees.
The large interconnecting drawingroom and diningroom, with sliding doors between them, have marble mantelpieces; the drawingroom has a deep bay looking over the front garden, and the diningroom has a wide walk-in bay with double doors opening into the side garden.
A large kitchen at the back of the house has an oil-fired Aga refurbished last year and a small side office partly partitioned from the main room; there’s plenty of space for new owners to create a more modern open-plan kitchen. There’s also scope to revamp other rooms at the back, including the original kitchen, which has a solid fuel Aga dating from the 1930s, a tall traditional dresser and a panel showing the original bells for calling servants as well as a pantry, utility room and toilet.
Upstairs, there’s a very large return off a wide landing with a family bathroom and, through double doors, a separate toilet, shower room and wall of built-in cupboards. A double bedroom has a large en suite with an oval bath. There are four double bedrooms on the first floor, all with marble fireplaces, and a study. Two bedrooms and the study open on to the balcony and have great views across to Bray Head and the Sugar Loaf; another double has its own balcony looking over a greenhouse.
The garden looks its best on a sunny June afternoon; trees including eucalyptus, two sequoia, a Monterey cypress and a monkey puzzle tree surround the wide lawn, which is divided by a tall hedge. A few steps lead down to a lower lawn with apple trees and a large tennis court; this replaced a vegetable garden, and was well used by the owners’ children, says their son. A bed of yellow roses flourishes in one corner. Whoever buys the house will get written plans detailing the planting.
That’s just the front garden. At the side and back are two large mahogany glasshouses, renovated and rebuilt in 2018, which are filled with an abundance of pink and purple pelargoniums, along with peach, pear, apricot and cherry trees as well as grapes, tomatoes, blackcurrants, redcurrants and gooseberries. One glasshouse dating from the 1890s has pipes that were used to centrally heat it. The family have always tended the garden themselves.
Carrickmoleen is on Killiney Hill Road, nearly opposite the Martello tower near the corner with Killiney Avenue.
