One of the most romantic houses on the south Dublin coast, Inniscorrig, on Coliemore Road, Dalkey, is expected to fetch over £3 million at a Sherry FitzGerald auction on April 12th. The detached six-bedroom house fronts directly on to the sea and has its own harbour and bathing place.
Set well back from the road behind high wrought iron gates, and enclosed by high stone walls, the two-storey over basement house stands on around three-quarters of an acre of grounds that include an original one-bedroom gate lodge with separate access from Coliemore Road.
Inniscorrig's solid granite construction and lavish Victorian Gothic features make it one of the most impressive homes in Dalkey. Once owned by the Smurfit family, the 5,000 sq ft house was built in the 1840s by Sir Dominic Corrigan, a wealthy Dublin physician based in Merrion Square who first diagnosed a heart condition now known as Corrigan's Pulse. He built Inniscorrig as a summer retreat and entertained there on a lavish scale.
Edward VII is thought to have visited the house, which is commemorated by a crown and star in pebbles set into the patios on either side of the front door. No expense was spared in the construction of the house and its Italianate gardens, which include a sheltered lawn to one side of the house with a series of Gothic arches overlooking the sea.
The face of Dr Corrigan himself looms over the front door, in a granite bust protruding from the wall, while arched niches on either side of the front door are home to two statues. Inside, this is a highly atmospheric house with most of its original features intact. The impressive front door opens into a large hallway with dark panelled walls and hand-painted leaded windows.
Straight ahead are the two principal reception rooms - a superb drawing-room and dining-room spanning over 40 feet in length, with polished hardwood floors and wide bay windows facing the sea. The drawing-room has a particularly fine marble fireplace.
Also off the hall is a small panelled study with an ornate fireplace. An inner hallway is fully panelled and has a fine carved mahogany staircase. This hall leads to a family room with a bay window facing the sea and another impressive fireplace. This room is open to the kitchen, which runs the full depth of the house with windows facing the front garden, and opening on to a seaside terrace.
The basement has a series of useful store rooms and sculleries, as well as a large games room.
Five bedrooms are on the first floor and the best of these is the main bedroom which has an en suite bathroom with a sunken bath on a raised platform designed to make the most of the view. There is a sixth bedroom higher up in the tower and a separate lavatory which, like the guest cloakroom at hall level, has original tiling and sanitary fittings.
Behind the house a sloping grass bank has steps leading down to the foreshore where there is an enclosed harbour.
