Period homes are much sought after, but they often conceal the hard work and money that has gone into them. It cannot be easy to keep a house like the one that has just gone for sale on Longford Terrace in Monkstown in the shape it’s in: centre roses and ceiling cornicework, sash windows, marble fireplaces, tiled or polished timber floors in this early Victorian house are all in excellent condition.

It’s a large house, built in the 1840s on a terrace once described as “an aristocratic and commanding pile”. The three-storey over garden level houses are designed in the imposing style of the time: the handsome drawingroom, on the first floor, stretches the width of the house, looking over the sea through three tall windows.

A bright Victorian sunroom on the first floor return is a striking feature: pots of purple flowers spill onto the tiled floor of this mini-conservatory where tall arched windows on three sides overlook the back garden and the spires of Monkstown’s churches.

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The owners have maintained its grand period style pretty much everywhere except at garden level: this has been converted into a comfortable modern open-plan space.

There’s a wood-burning stove in the large family room which opens into a kitchen with a Stanley range, polished granite countertops, tiled floor and plenty of space for a large dining table.

There’s a study/ single bedroom, tiled shower room, and with access from front and rear, this could be used as a separate flat.

Number 5 Longford Terrace, a 423sq m (4,553sq ft) five-bedroom house overlooking the sea in Monkstown, Co Dublin, is for sale by private treaty through Beirne & Wise for €2,275,000.

There have been a number of sales on this handsome early Victorian terrace in the past few years: number 8 sold for €2 million in November, 2013 and number 21 made €1.25 million in March.

Accommodation in number five includes a grand diningroom at the front of the house at ground floor level, a livingroom at the back and down a few stairs, an unrefurbished kitchen/utility room.

Three of the five bedrooms (two double, one single) are on the top floor, the main and most imposing one (and its en suite) overlooking the sea. There are lots of smart modernised bathrooms.

The 97ft long back garden, with a good-sized patio area leading to a manicured lawn, is sheltered by high stone walls and lined by flowerbeds, trees and shrubs; it has another sheltered seating area at the side. There’s offstreet parking in the gravelled front garden.

Longford Terrace is just around the corner from fashionable Monkstown Crescent and a short walk from Salthill Dart station.