Immortalised in story and song, the Forty Foot is a place where the neighbourhood and city come to swim and shoot the breeze. With a view of the swim spot, Windward, a former fisherman’s cottage, was an early adopter of the glass box extension trend.
The Forty Foot is Dublin’s ne plus ultra bathing spot. Actor Matt Damon has taken to the waters. So has singer Sam Smith.
The location has also appeared on screen in the Sharon Horgan TV series, Bad Sisters.
It has drawn crowds since James Joyce included it in the first chapter of Ulysses, where Buck Mulligan, who lives with Stephen Dedalus in the nearby Martello Tower, now the James Joyce Tower and museum, heads down to the Forty Foot to take a morning dip.
Address: Windward, Sandycove Point, Sandycove, County Dublin, A96 YD90
Asking price: €2.2 million
Agent: Tom O’Higgins
On a hot day, swimmers line up like fleas on a dog, waiting to descend the steps and brace themselves for immersion into some of the coldest waters in the country.
The fabled location is enhanced by the lack of development on its doorstep.
Such scarcity has a premium. There is just a handful of homes that look out onto the view.
Windward is a pretty, double-bay-fronted split-level house that is set on an east-west axis.
The front of the house enjoys sea views while the back of the property soaks up the sun thanks to its southwest aspect.
Extending to 183 square metres, the D1 BER-rated residence has all that a well-heeled family might be looking for in terms of form and layout.
The work in the three-bedroom, two-bathroom house was done about 40 years ago, according to selling agent Tom O’Higgins.
It’s mid 1980s look and feel are very much back in vogue, starting with the oceanic-influenced metal handrail that draws the eye up from the hall to the mezzanine level.
The sea views are at the front. To the left of the hall is the living room whose bay window frames a postcard vista that stretches across Dublin Bay.
It has a brass-trimmed raised hearth that was fashionable in the 1980s, but also has a contemporary feel.
It opens into the dining room, which overlooks the garden and where there is a matching fire surround.
The principal bedroom is on the other side of the hall and is a dual-aspect space with an en suite bathroom.
Up a level, there are now two other bedrooms, one of which is used as a home office.
The other is a dual aspect.
The mezzanine forms part of a two-storey extension designed to make the most of its orientation.
A sun trap and a decent size, its sloped ceiling is clad in timber. Coating this in a Scandi-esque soft neutral would switch up the mood.
The eat-in kitchen and interconnecting family room are at garden level, down two sets of stairs from the mezzanine.
A breakfast bar divides one from the other, and double-height glazing washes the rooms in light.
While the tiled splashback of the kitchen has a Memphis Group quality, there is scope to make more of this space, possibly extending it out into the garden a bit further to take advantage of its aspect, subject to planning permission and deep pockets.
The back garden is a sheltered, south-facing haven, filled with layered, mature planting that plays with depths of field.
There are also lawn and patio areas and rear pedestrian access to Sandycove Avenue North.
There’s potential here to create off-street parking or to develop further, again subject to planning.
Windward first came to the market last October seeking €2.5 million.
Buyers at this level are looking for turn-key homes but may be missing out on a chance to drink in sea views, soak up the sun and enjoy a morning dip, à la Mulligan, clad only in your dressing gown, as many of the locals still do.
Agent Tom O’Higgins is seeking €2.2 million for it.
