A detached period five-bedroom house close to the centre of Greystones has been extended and modernised since its owner bought it in 1994 for €195,000. "We did a big job on it then and again in 2005," says Finuala Byrne of her home, Sommerville House.
It is described as “a fine and well preserved late Georgian house which is a strong asset to the area” in the National Inventory of Architectural Heritage. (In fact, Sommerville House was built in the Georgian style around 1875 in the Victorian era.)
Modernising the house, which is not a listed property, included extending at the back to create a large open-plan kitchen/diningroom/sittingroom, putting in gas central heating and restoring original wooden floors.
There are surprising features such as the terrace off an upstairs landing. Fitted with artificial grass, it is another outdoor BBQ/patio area in addition to the back lawn. Aspiral staircase leads from the terrace down to the lawn.
Sommerville House is several doors from the Church of Ireland church on the road leading to the town centre. It’s an easy walk to the sea down a nearby lane and a short walk from Greystones Dart station. Byrne and her family are not leaving the area – they have planning permission to build a two-storey house with separate access next door, on part of their large garden.
With 314sq m (3,376sq ft) and set on 0.24 of an acre, Sommerville House is painted in neutral shades and presented for sale in excellent condition – unsurprisingly as Byrne is an estate agent. The striking fire-engine red front door with a fanlight opens into a long hall with a timber floor and decorative arch in the middle. There are two reception rooms on either side of the front hall: the smaller on the left has been an office, a playroom and is currently fitted out with gym equipment for the family’s three sons.
The drawingroom on the right has a restored grey marble fireplace and is dual aspect, with two tall sash windows with working shutters. A wide arch opens into a small interconnecting sittingroom and a door from here leads to the back of the house.
This is a very bright, open-plan space with floor-to-ceiling windows and glazed double doors opening to the garden. The space is floored with pale stone tiles; a kitchen island and counters are topped with polished brown granite and an original two-door cream Aga has been re-enamelled. The chimney breast at the livingroom end is painted eggshell blue, with the island painted to match.
There is a downstairs toilet off the kitchen, as well as a utility room and a boot room with a door to the garden. Upstairs, a door opens from the landing return at the top of the stairs to the roof terrace from where there are glimpses of Bray head. Stairs lead off the landing to a fully tiled shower room.
There are five bedrooms upstairs, four doubles and a single used as an office. The large main bedroom is dual aspect and has a narrow walk-in wardrobe behind a mirrored door, and an en suite shower room. Several of the bedrooms have Velux windows.
A few steps lead down from the top landing to the single bedroom and the family bathroom.
A sandstone patio curves around the back of the house and around a lawn with raised flowerbeds. There is room to park several cars in the front garden.
A conservation architect and an arborist were hired when plans for the new house were drawn up and it will be screened from the original property. Sommerville House, with a Ber of E1, is for sale through Sherry FitzGerald with an asking price of €1.385 million.
