When the owner of 10 Windsor Terrace was a boy he swam in the old Dún Laoghaire baths and later, as a teenager, helped out in the seafront hotel run by his family since the 1930s. Number 10 used to be, along with number 9, a thriving boutique hotel called Realt na Mara (Star of the Sea) that had its heyday in the post-war years.
When the house came on to the market in the late 1960s, the owner once again got the chance to reconnect to this beautiful property, and though he was living in the US he purchased it as a home for his elderly parents and his aunt.
Part of an 1860s Victorian terrace that directly fronts on to and overlooks Scotsman’s Bay – thought to be named after the Scottish engineer responsible for the construction of the adjacent east and west piers – this two-storey-over-basement double-fronted property comes to the market divided into three flats.
The Ber-exempt house has a total area of 291sq m (3,132sq ft) over three floors, of which the jewel is undoubtedly the top floor, which has outstanding views of the bay. All rooms to the front have excellent sea views, even the rooms at basement level. To the rear the property is south-facing, so sunlight pours through the kitchen windows and, though the garden is currently untended, it has attractive stone walls and the rear wall with wooden gate is newly-built.
All period features are present and correct; the stairs, floors, fireplaces, centre roses and quite elaborate cornicing are original and intact. The basement level has a kitchen, livingroom and two bedrooms, the first floor has the main entrance hall with stunning views over the sea, and the reception rooms to the right and left were the diningroom and lounge of the old hotel.
Each floor has two bedrooms, giving six in total, with three fine reception rooms. This property has potential for a complete gutting and renovation, pending planning permission. The location is perhaps unsurpassed, with the sea outside the front door. “It felt,” says the owner’s daughter, “as if you were always on holidays.”
She has fond memories of their visits here every summer and cannot believe the pace at which improvements are unfolding in the area. “What was once a busy road is now a quiet local street,” she says of the work done to Windsor Terrace. “In summer we go for breakfast to the restaurant in the People’s Park, sit on the terrace, we walk the piers and stroll up to Sandycove and the Forty Foot.”
The gate in the garden gives way to a lane with two parking spots for the house and quick access via Summerhill Parade to Sandycove Dart station and Glasthule village. The decision to sell was not an easy one for the family to make. “We have so many happy memories, just the name of the place says it all. That view from the front door, it’s everything. It’s the key to the whole house, that’s what you see from every window. It’s as magical as the name suggests.”
Number 10 Windsor Terrace is being sold through DNG, seeking €1.95 million.
