It is hard to believe that this five-bedroom Victorian house is only a stone's throw from the busy Stillorgan road and shopping centre. Guiding at £1 million-plus (€1.27m-plus), it is due for auction through Gunne Residential on April 26th.

The end house of the former Ulster Terrace, built in 1847 for British army officers, it was extended in the 1940s with fidelity to the original features. Although the golf course which once surrounded the terrace has long given way to housing, a screen of mature trees continues to shelter the old houses. Willow Lodge is named after an elderly willow in the back garden.

The imposing exterior of the house, with its street lamp and granite steps, anticipates the grandeur of the entrance hall. Here rich molding adorns the walls and ceiling and a pair of plaster heads guard the arch above the stairs. This grand effect continues in the two reception rooms, linked by folding doors. Both rooms have fine ceiling roses and original slate fireplaces.

The front drawingroom opens into the extension, which the present owners use as a diningroom. Cornices and a cast-iron fireplace maintain continuity with the old rooms, but jar slightly with the newer cherrywood shelves and cupboards lining, and darkening, the room. This effect could be remedied by simply knocking through to the conservatory where an indoor wisteria blooms, filling the room with scent. There is also a back stairs here to the kitchen.

Beyond the ornate hall and reception rooms the house takes on a plainer aspect, reflecting its military origins. The owner has translated this austerity to Japanese minimalism, making the family bathroom on the return a model of Zen simplicity. Its basin - set in a free standing cherrywood counter - faces a window overlooking a rocky water feature and spirit house lamp beneath the willow tree in the back garden.

This oriental theme persists in the en suite to the main bedroom upstairs, which has access to a wood-tiled balcony.

The main bedroom mirrors the diningroom below and is lined with built-in cupboards. There are three other bedrooms on the first floor and a bedroom/study on the hall return. All are quite plain but feature fireplaces, one of which is boarded up. Oddly, these high-ceilinged rooms have low doors. There must have been no height requirement for British officers. A high arched window lights the staircase, echoing the arch in the hall and on the upstairs landing. Typically for this type of house, the garden level is a labyrinth of storage space and rooms, which include a wine cellar under the front steps, a sittingroom, kitchen, utility and games room.

Removing the wall between kitchen and sittingroom would greatly enhance the rather small kitchen and admit more light.