Nestled between the villages of Sandycove and Glasthule is a small, picturesque stretch of coastline known as Newtownsmith. Dating from the 19th century, maritime development here was initially summer villas that over the years became high-status, full-time Victorian residences.
St Albans is a prominent terrace on this stretch of South County Dublin originally built by the Earl of Longford as it was constructed on Pakenham/De Vesci estate lands. At that time houses here were designed as rather grand two-storey over garden homes intended for the emerging professional class who wanted the benefits of sea air after the advent of the Dublin and Kingstown Railway.
An unusual feature of the terrace was the addition of a third floor (in the early 1900s) when a significant wave of “upward extensions” were added. This transformed homes from substantial villas to properties more akin to stately townhouses, where staff would normally have lived on the upper floors.
The terrace of St Albans achieved an additional storey, offering an even better view at a time when competition for uninterrupted sea views intensified in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Number 3 St Albans, which has just launched to the market, lives up to its name of Seaview as it has remarkable maritime vistas, and this is one of the reasons the current owners fell for and purchased the property in 2016.
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It appears on the property register as having sold that year for the sum of €2 million as part of the sale of assets of the late Robin Power, who was described in an obituary in this newspaper as “the most audacious property player of his generation”. The developer had built up a large portfolio of Sandycove seafront properties including Seaview and adjacent Seabreeze, which itself achieved €1.6 million in 2016.
The owners say they wanted a house full of character, to be near to the Dart line for their children’s commute to school/university, and to be near amenities for shopping and dining. They say their home at Seaview ticked all the boxes, and went beyond their expectations. They also say traffic has reduced to the front of their home since the road was made into a one-way system with the addition of a new cycle lane.
Furthermore, the fact that Seaview is at the end of the terrace allows additional light into the property thanks to an additional 12 windows on its gable end that help illuminate its wonderfully high ceilings. “While it has the proportions of an old stately home, it is also very modern in its layout,” says the owner of the 372sq m (4,000sq ft) house.
After purchasing the property, the owners changed all external doors – of which there are 16 in total as each of the two balconies is accessed via large sets of patio doors on the upper floor, and a further two sets from the kitchen.
While renovating all five bathrooms and wooden flooring throughout, they also addressed the rear garden – designed to be low-maintenance, as the owners travel a lot – undertaking lots of hard landscaping in the form of a fully glazed sunroom, a swanky barbecue area, outdoor dining space and fireplace. The house benefits from a park (Sandycove Green) across the road and an entire stretch of coastline looking out over Scotsman’s Bay.
Internally, it has a livingroom, diningroom and kitchen/breakfastroom on the ground floor. Situated to the front, the livingroom has remarkable twin bay windows that are echoed upstairs in one of the most beautiful rooms in the house; a piano nobile drawingroom that surveys all the goings on with the maritime traffic on Scotsman’s Bay.
Two of the property’s four bedrooms – all of which are en suite – are located to the rear of the first floor and benefit from southwesterly light, as does the fourth bedroom on the second floor, which also has a sunny balcony.
The piece de resistance, though, remains the principal bedroom on the top floor as the room and its en suite occupy 44sq m, and that’s before you take in the stretch of balcony out front. There are not many homes on the Dublin coastline where you have uninterrupted sea views from a bedroom balcony and where you can be in for a swim in the space of about three minutes.
St Albans Terrace has parking off street – accessed from the electric gates to its side – where there is space for a large vehicle, and space for one or two more in the rear garden, which is also accessed from this adjacent driveway.
Moving abroad for work reasons, owners have loved their time at Seaview, saying “you have the best of village living, so close to the sea but also near enough to the city” and have placed their home on the market through Sherry FitzGerald, seeking €3.45 million. It has a D1 Ber.
