A four-bedroom detached house comes with a converted coach-house and 1.5 acres, writes Bernice Harrison
There isn't a shortage of large houses in north County Dublin - it's still a part of the county where people buy plots of land and build substantial detached family homes.
And the population is growing thanks to new housing estates on the fringes of once-small villages, including Lusk, an expanding village close to Rush and Skerries.
Large period properties don't come on the market in the area very often, which is why interest in Lusk House, a listed property and one of the oldest houses in the village should be strong. It is for sale by private treaty for €2.5 million through Malahide agents O'Farrell Cleere.
Built in 1890, the four-bedroom detached house on Station Road stands on 1.5 acres. The current owners, who have lived here for the past 20 years, rebuilt the outbuildings to create what could prove to be one of the house's biggest selling points.
It's a self-contained, detached two-storey coach-house with two large rooms upstairs and two downstairs, as well as a bathroom on both levels. The owner is interested in architectural salvage and reclaimed materials, and it shows in the coach-house where a great deal of work obviously went into sourcing the old beams, reclaimed oak flooring, old cast-iron radiators and, in particular, the beautiful and unusual 1930s chrome shower and French antique ceramic washbasin and freestanding bath.
The coach-house is mostly used as a recreation space by the family - there's a snooker table and a bar downstairs - but it would make a great two-bedroom house, or indeed if the new owners work from home, an ideal work space.
It was rebuilt by Graham Turley, known for his work with natural, reclaimed materials, and it is separated from the main house by a newly laid out patio area, also designed by Turley, which features a massive custom-built polished stone table-top set on granite boulders.
The same salvage theme is carried through in the main house where a large kitchen extension was added in the past five years. It features a four-door Aga, quarry tiles, antique pine beams and antique pine fitted kitchen units. The floor-to-ceiling stained glass window came from the church in the old Richmond Hospital. Off this is a family area and a conservatory which, disappointingly given the emphasis on natural materials everywhere else in the house, is uPVC.
On either side of the front door are two reception rooms, one a formal drawingroom, the other a diningroom. Down a couple of steps at the back of the house is a home cinema with a built-in plasma screen as well as surround sound. There's a large utility room, a shower room and a small home office.
Upstairs there are four double bedrooms, most with dual aspect and one with a smartly refurbished en suite. There's also a shower room and a family bathroom.
Outside, most of the 1.5 acres is taken up by the back garden, a meticulously-kept, mature, mostly lawned area and there is car-parking to the side of the house for several cars.
The agent suggests that Lusk House is 30 minutes from Dublin city centre but it's safe to assume, given the explosion of development in north County Dublin and despite the motorway, that that optimistic estimate is not based on a rush-hour commute.
