Glenamuck Road €1.95 millionDesigned by the brother of painter William Orpen, Hillside is a very pretty house that offers a great deal of accommodation and flexibility for a growing family
AN INTERVIEW with architect Richard Orpen in a 1904 edition of the Irish Builder credited him with being “the originator of the bungalow in Ireland” and noted that he was responsible for “quite a colony of pretty red-tiled gabled houses in the fashionable residential district of Foxrock”.
The writer of that article could be talking about Hillside on Glenamuck Road, which Orpen designed around the time it was published.
It is a very pretty house – Orpen was originally going to be a painter like his now more famous brother William and had a keen aesthetic eye – and the changes that have been made to it over the years have been in keeping with its original design.
It now has five bedrooms, stands on just over an acre of beautifully mature and maintained gardens, and is for sale through Knight Frank for €1.95 million. In addition, the stables at the back have been turned into a three-bedroom mews, so all in all this property offers a great deal of accommodation and flexibility.
It is a large house – at 404sq m (4,345sq ft) – and there are three reception rooms, two to the front and a formal diningroom to the back, which has been extended by the current owners. They also made the kitchen considerably bigger to make room for a large dining area. It is fitted with solid pine units, which were very much in vogue when they bought Hillside just over 20 years ago. There is also a butler’s pantry, a wine cellar and a utility room.
When the current owners bought the house it had seven bedrooms and one downstairs bathroom – they purchased it sight unseen and were a little put out to discover the lack of bathroom facilities.
Now, however, it has five double bedrooms, mostly with a lovely cottagey feel, and three bathrooms upstairs and one guest toilet downstairs. Most of the bedrooms have cast-iron fireplaces and the main bedroom has a small balcony overlooking the back garden.
The garden is divided into several areas. Just outside the house is a patio area with a large brick barbecue and there is also a thriving kitchen garden.
Out front a tyre swing hangs from a giant cypress tree, a sure sign that this would be a fantastic place for a growing family. The mews – with 149sq m (1,600sq ft) – is the other side of an enclosed courtyard at the back of the house. There is parking in the courtyard for several cars but there is also plenty of parking out front.
Hillside was originally on twice as much land but in the recent past some of it was sold off and a house was built on it. However, it is a good distance from the main house and there is a screen of mature trees.
Hillside, Glenamuck Road, Carrickmines, Dublin 18
Description: Five-bed early 20th-century detached house with three-bed mews on just over an acre of mature gardens
Agent: Knight Frank
