“This has been a brilliant family home,” says the owner of 52 Castlepark Road in Sandycove, Co Dublin. When local auctioneer Buckleys showed it to her and her husband, just after Christmas 1988, they loved it immediately, bought it forthwith, and moved in with their three children six weeks later. A fourth child was born, and they adapted and rearranged the house according to their needs over the next 34 years as the family grew, and then flew — but not too far away.
Built in 1938, the house is on almost three-quarters of an acre at the corner of Dundela Park; a previous owner bought an extra length of land from the builder and this forms a generous side garden, including a sunny patio sheltered by a willow fence and a bush of floppy red roses, and a wood store under a pergola. In 2018 the owners secured planning permission for a two-storey, two-bedroom house on this side plot, designed by local architectural practice Extend, but their plans have changed and they are now planning to downsize elsewhere within the area, putting number 52 on the market through DNG with an asking price of €1.65 million.
From their earliest days in the house, the owner says, they made it work for them, incorporating the garage and coal store into the footprint rather than extending out. Downstairs, the door opens through a porch to a pleasant square hall, with storage, wooden floors and a guest toilet. To the right, the front sittingroom — formerly the children’s TV room — has a bay window, built-in shelving and a gas stove. Behind this is a more formal sittingroom, with stone fireplace and double doors to the back-garden deck.
Across the hall, the kitchen was relocated about 12 years ago to run the depth of the house, so you can see all callers while doing the washing-up. It wraps around into a bright dining area and family room, with double doors to the garden from both arms of the L-shape, and a wood-burning stove. Off this is a utility room with lots of storage and a pull-down drying rack.
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The stairs turn after four steps, are lit by a large window, and divide at the top. To the left is a bedroom the owners extended out over the utility room, so what was once a small room now has big wardrobes and is ensuite. The main bedroom is also ensuite, and it runs the full east-west depth of the house, getting morning sun in the bay window and evening light in the bathroom. There are two more bedrooms and another big bathroom off the landing, from which a spiral stairs leads up to the Velux-lit attic study that’s been nicely fitted out with shelves and desks by a local joiner.
Outside, the back garden has also been adapted to the family’s needs, with a wood-clad garden room functioning first as a teenage den and later as a home office. A little shed at the end holds garden tools, and the colourful plants are well tended; the owner recently created a bed around a golden acer. There is a ramp as well as steps from the deck.
With 180sq m (1,938sq ft) of carefully minded space, this house is ready for a lovely family, says the owner. Whoever buys it could proceed with the live planning permission, or they might decide instead to work with the architects to adapt the existing house further while addressing the Ber of D2. The beauty of this road, the owner notes, is the variety of original buildings and upgrades along it, as well as its proximity to the sea, Hyde Park, Dalkey village, Glenageary Dart station, the Metals walkway, lots of good schools — and, of course, the renowned Barnhill Stores.
