When artist/interior designer Margaret English is looking for inspiration for one of her beautifully textured mixed-media paintings, she just has to look out any of the upstairs windows at her home at 3 Claremont Grove – to see from the Obelisk on Killiney Hill to the sea off the Vico Road to Dublin Bay and out to Howth Head. This detached five-bedroom home of 178sq m (1,916sq ft) sits high on the hill, on a quiet, exclusive cul-de-sac around the corner from Killiney village, with lovely vistas all round, providing lots of visual fodder to create fine artworks. It is now on the market through DNG, seeking €1.295 million.
English and her husband, Des, bought this 1960s-built house in 2016 – for €625,000, according to the Property Price Register – and fully renovated it, English putting all her interior design talent and experience into creating a lovely, well-functioning home for the couple and their three children.
They put in new double-glazed windows and doors, and knocked in one of the interior walls to create a comfortable open-plan kitchen/dining/living area, with a marble fireplace in the livingroom and French doors leading out to the small, beautifully landscaped back garden surrounded by stone walls. This was completed just last year by garden designer Karl Barnes, and features a granite terrace, low-maintenance artificial lawn, mature shrubs and lots of fragrant jasmine. The back garden is a sun trap, says English, and the couple put in rear gate access to Glenalua Road, which makes it handy for popping across to the nearby Druid’s Chair pub, a popular spot with Killiney locals.
Barnes also did some lovely landscaping to the front, where the house benefits from a spacious drive that can accommodate several cars. There’s a wide entrance porch with double glass doors leading into a large hallway. Off the hall is a neat, unobtrusive cloakroom alcove, and behind that is the utility room. There’s another large room to the front that will work as a kids’ den or small artists’ studio (currently it’s doubling as both) or a home office. There’s also a downstairs WC.
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Upstairs on the first floor are four large double bedrooms. There is a family bathroom that was fully renovated last year, with designer marble and a rainwater shower. There’s ample wardrobe storage in the bedrooms, and of course those sea views from all sides, plus the main bedroom to the front has a balcony overlooking the Dublin cityscape and nicely catches the evening sun.
Up on the second floor is an attic conversion, which now doubles as a large guest bedroom and a home office, with Velux windows on both sides giving maximum views. There’s a large en suite up here too. The house uses gas central heating, and a new boiler was installed in 2020; the house has a C3 Ber.
Across the road from Claremont Grove is the entrance to Killiney Hill park, a popular spot for dog walkers, with a cafe and paths leading up to Dalkey Castle and the Obelisk. Fitzpatrick Castle Hotel is nearby and Dalkey village is just down the hill, with plenty of cafes, gastropubs and craft shops.
Nearby schools include Loreto Abbey, Castle Park and St Joseph of Cluny, and there are bus routes into the city centre and nearby Dún Laoghaire, and access to the Dart from Dalkey.
