Two houses in a southside suburb - a hidden 18th century farmhouse and a Georgian villa needing renovation - are for sale. Eivlín Roden reports

81 Monkstown Road: €1.8m  Hillsborough, a hidden 18th century farmhouse in the middle of Monkstown, Co Dublin, is guided at €1.8 million prior to auction by Felicity Fox on October 20th

The house, number 81, is on the edge of the village at right angles to the Monkstown Road, and reached via a wide gravelled lane that makes it extremely private.

Built in 1740, the four-bedroom house is full of charm, with a linear layout and a floor space of 260sq m (2,800sq ft).

It has been extended once or twice in its lifetime, the most recent being a self-contained studio apartment of 46sq m (500sq ft) which the present owners built in the early 1990s. It is attached at the other end to a separate house.

The central block is entered via a porch with two large pillars and a cheery yellow door.

On the left of the hall is the drawingroom which runs from front to back and is lit by three windows, two in the curved back wall.

This lovely room has many original features, such as mouldings and arched glazed cabinets on either side of the marble fireplace, in simpler taste than later Victorian times.

To the right of the hall is a smaller diningroom and staircase hall with passage to the kitchen, family room and various utility and cloakrooms.

There is also a breakfastroom with wooden floor and French doors to the back garden, and gas-fired central heating throughout.

Upstairs, the main bedroom is directly above the drawingroom and shares its rounded end wall and large proportions with coved ceiling and sash windows.

Next to it is another large bedroom, with cast-iron fireplace, and two windows looking out over the porch.

There are two further spacious bedrooms, one with a door out to a private roof terrace and a family bathroom and shower room.

As in many old houses, the walls throughout are enormously thick, the windows have old ripply glass, and there are working shutters, dado rails and ceiling plasterwork in many of the rooms.

But it is the quirky features that captivate, such as the solid granite step into the Spanish oak-fitted kitchen, stained glass skylight and oculus window, and unexpected nooks and crannies.

The studio has a separate entrance, kitchen and shower room with open-plan livingroom and small bedroom.

The gravelled avenue belongs to the house (although it is a right of way for houses beyond it) and has large shady trees and parking for several cars.

The sunny walled back garden at 74 x 45 ft is private, with views of old trees in the distance.

3 The Crescent: € 1.25m One of the pretty Georgian villas facing the shops and restaurants on Monkstown Crescent is on the market through Ganly Walters with a guide price of €1.25 million prior to auction on October 20th.

The distinctive pink and green terraced house has the bonus of a long back garden with access to a laneway leading to Pakenham Road.

Number three is currently divided into flats and will need a good deal of renovation work to restore it to single residence. However, on the plus side, it has kept many of its original features intact.

A short flight of granite steps up to the hall door is bounded by curved iron railings.

The Georgian door is flanked by columns and set into a pedimented architrave with a multipaned window on either side and two at garden level.

The façade is surmounted by an elegant parapet with centred capstone.

With a total floor space of 150sq m (1,615sq ft), it has a very pretty drawingroom with a French marble fireplace, a window to the front of the house and a smaller back section through an arch with a window overlooking the back garden.

To the right of the hall is a diningroom fitted out as a kitchen/diningroom and behind this is a good double bedroom.

The front hall was originally separated from the back by a door of which the architrave remains.

A staircase leads down a few steps to a door to the garden and a small bathroom and returns into the lower level. This has two self-contained units with own entrance and doors to the back garden. Each consists of two rooms with bathrooms and both would easily be incorporated back into the main house.

The proportions of the house are pleasing with high ceilings, big windows and good sized division of space. The original doors have been fitted with amber cut glass doorknobs brought over from France by the previous owner who lived here for 26 years.

The large back garden 130 x 53ft) is like stepping into a magical, old fashioned story with roses over pergolas and small fountains bounded by enclosing trees and shrubs. There is an old garage at the back which gives access through a lane to Pakenham Road.