A period country house a short drive from Enniskerry village, completely revamped and extended in 2004, has a striking mix of styles, from formal reception rooms with handsome marble fireplaces and bay windows at the front to a pop art-wallpapered sitting room at the back to a large kitchen with a 1930s icebox-style fridge.
A short glazed passage links the original to the extended part of the house and to an annex that includes a sunroom overlooking the huge back lawn and a large games-party room looking into a cobblestoned courtyard. Built in the mid-1800s, Mervyn is bright and airy, with walls mostly painted white.
A five-bedroom country house on 4.3 acres, Mervyn is for sale through Colliers for €2.75 million. There are four stables in the courtyard and new owners could easily keep a number of horses on the property: lawns on both sides of the front avenue were formerly paddocks and could be converted back, says agent Marcus Magnier.
The property was divided when it was sold in 2004 and Mervyn is the original house; roofs of adjacent buildings, separated by a high fence, can be seen from the lawns.
The gates of Mervyn open onto a curved driveway leading to the house, which has a pillared and porticoed entrance: the front door opens into a very large, bright front hall. Floored with Portland stone, it has a curved staircase on one side and a huge carved timber mantelpiece on the other.
The two formal reception rooms on either side of the hall at the front of the house have tall, deep bay windows with views of Bray Head and the sea in the distance. The drawing room on the left has an ornate white and yellow marble fireplace and French doors opening onto a terrace; the dining room on the right has a marble mantelpiece with a wood-burning stove inset.
An arch in the front hall leads into the country-style kitchen: timber floorboards are painted white and there’s a large cream Aga along with the cream icebox-style fridge and a Belfast sink in the marble countertop. Double doors open from the kitchen into a family room.
The landing at the top of the stairs is nearly as big as the front hall below it: it has original timber floors, a marble fireplace and is dominated by an arched triple window with probably the best views over countryside to Bray Head from the house.
There are three bedrooms off the landing, all doubles with en suites. The main bedroom has a very big en suite, with a freestanding bath, shower and decorated curved dressing area.
An arch in the front hall leads to a glazed passage overlooking the garden. Tall mahogany doors open into a utility room, shower room, a small double bedroom and another room fitted with shelves that could be a bedroom or home office.
A teenager would love the timber-floored room that also opens off the passage: it has pop art wallpaper, some walls painted red and stairs up to a mezzanine with a double bed fitted into a niche bordered by glass bricks.
The annex – a converted outbuilding – accommodates a glazed sunroom overlooking the garden; a double-height games room in a converted outbuilding with floor-to-ceiling windows/doors opening into the cobbled courtyard; a small room which had been used as a gym, a shower, toilet and changing room. In the enclosed courtyard there’s also a tack room, feed room and shower room as well as the four stables.
The house stands in the middle of 4.3 acres with lots of very old trees that include apple, cherry, Scots pines and beech. There’s a large tennis court at the back of the wide lawn, bordered by a stone wall. There is planning permission in the two-acre field behind it for six houses, and a planning application for two more.
