There's no shortage of beautiful Victorian houses in Killiney. The most elaborate are vast, even castellated, some with turrets and some like the very pretty Galleen on Marino Avenue East seem to have borrowed heavily from the more restrained arts and crafts movement which was popular in the seaside suburb when the detached house was built in 1898.
Galleen’s distinctive exterior features include half-timber cladding which is painted black to contrast with the white render and the red roof tiles and elegant chimney stacks. The black timber shutters have a charming heart detail and several rooms open out, via their original French windows, to the balconies at the upper levels or the ground floor terrace. It’s very pretty.
The five-bedroom, 244sq m (2,630sq ft) detached house is for sale through Ganly Walters for €2.45 million.
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Marino Avenue East is a private road off Military Road and it is lined with large, interesting period houses. Galleen is on an elevated site near the end of the road so that there are sea views at all levels. The owners have lived here for more than 20 years and are downsizing.
They did considerable work five years ago, including installing a smart new custom-designed kitchen and a Hampton conservatory, and they replaced flooring on the ground floor with oak parquet that looks so right it could be original. Galleen is in walk-in condition, decorated throughout with impeccable taste and a restrained colour scheme from the Farrow & Ball chart.
The hall is large enough to take a grand piano and has an open fire as have most of the rooms including the bedrooms. The style of the house which is almost cottagey, especially at the upper levels, means that none of the rooms in Galleen is particularly large – not even the two reception rooms which have roomy box bay windows.
One is downstairs at hall level, the other, a more formally-decorated one is upstairs but they all are very pleasantly proportioned and most have dual aspect, so all are bright and with lovely views either over the gardens or towards the sea.
The kitchen now opens into the large, attractive conservatory, which can be used all year round. Upstairs, the bedrooms are on two levels.
When the owners moved in they turned one of the bedrooms into a bathroom but there are still five bedrooms. The room at the top of the house is probably the nicest, it’s certainly the most romantic with its dormer window and doors out to its own balcony.
The mature and obviously well-loved half acre of mature gardens wrap around the house and the largest part is laid out mostly in lawn and is to the side. There is a garage and parking on the gravelled driveway for a couple of cars.
