Residential

Out of the ordinary beach house backing on to the seafront

Five-bedroom 1960s property in Sutton with views of the bay for €1.8 million

Gemma Tipton's face
Gemma Tipton
Thu Sep 17 2015 - 05:00

At the award-winning Higgins Family Butchers in Sutton, they also serve excellent coffee and do conjuring tricks at the cash desk.

Walking down Greenfield Road to Ouvane, Sutton seems like a very nice place to live indeed. And if you were going to live in Sutton, Ouvane must be one of the best places in which to find yourself.

Built in the 1960s, it has around 325sq m (3,500sq ft) of living space sprawled along a beachfront site.

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Long and low, the centre portion of the house is two storeys, with honeycomb tiled floors and an open-tread staircase taking you up to the main bedroom, which is absolutely enormous and commands a brilliant view of the sweep of the bay.

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You’d be torn between not wanting to get out of bed, and rushing out to take advantage of everything on the doorstep.

“You see surfers, birds, ships. You can watch the tides and see the lights come out at night. There’s always something to do,” the owner says, pointing out Dalkey Island in the distance and Howth Golf Course on the nearby hill.

The rest of the five bedrooms are on the ground floor, in a wing to the left, while on the right is a dining area, kitchen, den and corridor access to the garage. The centre portion is taken up with a sunken livingroom, with fireplace, and large picture windows.

It’s all incredibly peaceful, although the owner confides that the parties here have been legendary.

Outside, the back garden includes a patio and strip of grass, bounded by a low white brick wall, after which is the beach. To the front there’s plenty of off-street parking space.

For sale with DNG for €1.8 million, and very much a child of the 1960s, Ouvane could do with modernisation. The garage could be incorporated into the house to provide more living space and, while I’m a big fan, this style of design isn’t to everyone’s taste. However it would be a shame to turn it into a bland designer clone, as the atmosphere is very cool and relaxed, and the original architect certainly knew a lot about working with space, light, the seascape and making the most of the most extraordinary views.