Address: Kilmore, Kilmore Avenue, Killiney, Co Dublin
Price: €6,500,000
Agent: Sherry FitzGerald
A sweeping mahogany staircase in Kilmore, a completely refurbished Victorian house in Killiney, Co Dublin, is a little bit Bridgerton: it’s easy to imagine floating down the stairs beside a tall arched triple window into the double-height hall below, made bright by an oval skylight in the ceiling.
It’s a standout feature of the 1860s house, which its owners bought in 1998: they wanted something elegant, not fussy, period-style but modern when they embarked on a big renovation in 2003. They brought in architect Sam Stephenson and UK conservation architect Philip Dinkel to oversee the job, which has resulted in what the owners describe as “a contemporary house in an old shell”. As well as that, there are uninterrupted views of Killiney Bay from many of the rooms, upstairs and down.
Homes near the coast in Killiney command high prices, and Kilmore is in the heart of the luxury homes belt. The house is hidden away about halfway up Kilmore Avenue, a road that links Killiney Hill Road to Station Road in Killiney, close to Bono’s house at the bottom of Vico Road: its neighbour on one side is Strathmore, the former Canadian embassy residence on Strathmore Road, which has been redeveloped as a 1,739sq m (18,719sq ft) house. Former residents include Dr Bob Collis, a paediatrician and writer described in History Ireland magazine as “Ireland’s Schindler”: working with the Red Cross, he visited Bergen-Belsen concentration camp shortly after its liberation and eventually adopted two young concentration camp survivors. His twin, John Stewart Collis, was an acclaimed writer and pioneer of the ecology movement.
Kilmore’s style is period – it has marble fireplaces, ceiling coving everywhere, a circle of simple decorative plasterwork below the oval skylight, antique crystal doorknobs – but has every contemporary comfort. The house was stripped back to “two walls and a third of the roof”, rewired, replumbed, given geothermal heating and underfloor heating on all floors. It has central vacuuming, a laundry chute from the top landing, a zoned sound system throughout the house and outside, three electric car chargers, two of them fast. There’s been lot of attention to detail – a walk-in wardrobe with the main en suite includes a cupboard just for shoes and bags, and a pull-out pocket door displaying necklaces.
Their three children grown, the couple are downsizing to a house in Dalkey and Kilmore, Kilmore Avenue, Killiney, Co Dublin, a 656sq m (7,061sq ft) four-bedroom house on 1.43 acres, is for sale seeking €6.5 million through Sherry FitzGerald. It’s meticulously maintained and in walk-in condition. The property includes a separate two-bed apartment above the original coach-house in the garden and a large tiered and private garden with 15ft-high hedges. As a protected structure, it’s Ber exempt. There is planning permission to build a detached two-storey four-bed away from the main house on the site, which will be screened from Kilmore by high hedging.
Reception hall 
Reception hall 
Mahogany staircase in reception hall with oval skylight 
Sittingroom 
Family room and kitchen
Kilmore has a fairly simple layout, with four rooms downstairs, four large bedrooms upstairs and more accommodation at garden level. A gravelled drive off Kilmore Avenue leads to a wide parking area and front garden with shallow steps up to the front door. A sittingroom opens to the right off the entrance hall: it has two deep bay windows, both with sea views, one opening on to a veranda. It has ceiling coving, a white marble fireplace with a wood-burning stove inset and is floored with dark wide-plank floorboards.
Kitchen 
Diningroom 
Library/study
On the other side of the front hall, a door opens into the long family-room/kitchen: the family room has a tall window looking on to the side garden; the Dalkey Design kitchen has a glossy cream Aga, deep brown marble-topped island and countertop, porthole window and a deep bay window with a door opening on to the patio.
The front hall opens into the very large reception hall dominated by the staircase: like the entrance hall, it has a black and white limestone and slate floor. On one side is a huge marble fireplace, on another is a grand piano. A door on the right opens into the library/study, and one on the left into the diningroom. The library, like the sittingroom, has a white marble fireplace, deep bay window, a door on to the veranda – and is completely panelled by master craftsman company Tischler Ireland. The formal diningroom has a table that can accommodate 22 people, a marble fireplace and French doors opening on to a side passage into the garden. There’s also a downstairs toilet at the back of the ground floor.
Main bedroom with walk-in dressingroom and en suite 
Main bedroom with walk-in dressingroom and en suite 
Main bedroom en suite 
Garden-level family room 
Gardens 
Paved area 
Veranda at front of house
All the bedrooms upstairs open off a wide landing with a pale green carpet edged with gold trim. The laundry chute is set into one corner. All are large doubles with very smart en suites. The bed in the main bedroom – which has a deep cream carpet – faces a wide bay window with a window seat looking on to the sea. Two rows of wardrobes face each other in the walk-in dressingroom, with a window and window seat at its end. It opens into a large en suite with a Quartzite floor, oval bath, double sinks and a green-tiled shower.
A hidden door in the ground floor reception hall opens on to a steepish staircase leading down to the garden level. Some locals remember this as a popular place for parties under previous owners, with a glitter ball hanging in what’s now a games room with a pool table. There’s a good-sized laundry room (where clothes arrive from the chute upstairs), a kitchenette, plant room and a good-sized shower room at this level – but its main attraction are two rooms connected by double door. Called the family room and cinema room in the agent’s brochure, it’s flexible space that can be used as two bedrooms when people stay over. Both rooms have double doors opening on to a veranda/lower patio outside.
The 1.43-acre garden was landscaped by Wicklow firm Philip Brightling: rocks and stone found in the renovation were used in the now tiered garden surrounded by high hedging and mature trees. A circular stone terrace at the side of the house has a water feature and covered barbecue area with built-in seating in a converted cut-stone shed. It’s close to the cut-stone coach house with the top floor two-bedroom apartment.