By the time the vendors bought 3 Ellerslie Villas on Sidmonton Road, Bray, in 2004 the heavy lifting had already been done by the previous owners who had brought the house back from multiple units and converted it back into a family home.
A semi-detached late Victorian property, it was built as a summer house in the seaside town for a Dublin family on a road just minutes from the seafront. Nowadays, the agent points out that it is a few doors down from a crèche, is across from a lovely railinged park and has a long back garden indicating that the likely buyer will be a young family trading up in a part of Wicklow that, when compared with Dublin, offers considerable more space for a buyer’s budget. At 324sq m (3,488sq ft) with accommodation spread over three floors the property has five bedrooms, two spacious livingrooms and an eat-in kitchen.
From the elaborate plaster cornices in the front reception room – large and bright with high ceilings and a deep bay – and the fine white marble chimney piece, it’s clear this was a premium property when built in the 1890s.
There is a second reception room to the rear but the family spend most time in the kitchen/diningroom in the back return. Laid out as two separate rooms until recently, it was opened up with the Aga in the centre and exposed red brick chimney now providing a room divider. It has a freestanding Habitat kitchen – so easily moved or changed by new owners – and opens out to the patio to the side of the house. This dining area also opens into an old sunroom – ripe for restoration – and has a spiral staircase tucked in one corner which leads up to what would have been the maid’s room, now used as a home office.
Upstairs two of the five bedrooms have en suites including the master to the front of the house which mirrors the reception room below in its grand size and proportions. In one the bathrooms the original cast iron bath with its mahogany surround is still in situ.
The long back garden is maturely planted and divided into sections. The Ber is E1 so new owners might want to explore ways of making the substantial property more energy efficient. Parking is on street to the front and the house is a short walk from Bray’s main street.
3 Ellerslie Villas is for sale through Vincent Finnegan for €895,000.
