Lifestyle of the rich and famous on Ireland's own Amalfi Coast

during the 18th and early 19th century, affluent residents of Dalkey would go on a Grand Tour throughout France and Italy. When they reached the Bay of Naples, they noted a similarity between its scenery and the south Dublin coastline. This inspired them to give their Dalkey villas Italianate place-names when they returned from their travels.

Over the last two years, wealthy denizens from period homes and villas on Dalkey’s Vico, Sorrento and Torca Roads have been among the downsizers moving to Enderly, an Italian-themed development of 18 houses off Cunningham Drive. At this cliffside perch, they can enjoy views across Dublin Bay but also have a low-maintenance, A-rated home with a manageable garden. And because Enderly is 400m from the centre of the coastal village and its Dart station, these downsizers remain immersed in their local community.

The land on which Enderly sits used to belong to an old estate of the same name. The period home, used in the making of Da – the film adaptation of Hugh Leonard’s play about his father, starring Martin Sheen – was renamed Santa Maria after it was bought by couturier Marjorie Boland after World War II.

In 2008, a group of investors paid more than €20m for a site to the rear of Santa Maria, but the property crash put paid to progress. The elevated site was bought in 2011 by Twinlite and, in 2015, the developer set about the painstaking task of excavating the land, which sat atop a massive bed of silver granite. During the largest rock excavation ever carried out for an Irish residential scheme, enough granite to fill 116 double-decker buses was broken up and removed, with the help of equipment specially imported from Japan. The scheme was eventually launched in 2017, becoming the first development to do so in Dalkey in more than a decade.

Twinlike paid homage to the cliffside terraces of Sorrento on the Almafi Coast when naming the house type for three homes built at the highest point of the site, where they are set into a granite cliff. After selling the last Sorrento – the most expensive pad in the entire scheme at €2.6m due it being a showhouse – Twinlite hired North Design to fit out the final two homes at Enderly, No 13 and No 14, as showhouses. North Design, a young Dublin-based studio specialising in funky interior architecture and design, was set up by duo Louise Rankin and Lauren Martin.

No 13 and 14 Enderly, both three-storey homes from the Torca design, are priced from €1.15m and €1.2m, respectively. No 13 is a four-bed end-of-terrace design that measures 1,913 sq ft. Even though it’s a three-bed mid-terraced home, No 14 is a tad larger at 1,974 sq ft, because a space that would typically be devoted to a fourth bedroom was turned into a second reception room instead.

The exteriors of the two homes are, like the neighbouring properties, finished in St Ives Cream Rustica brick imported from Belgium, and there is Moleanos limestone from Portugal to the surrounds of the triple-glazed alu-clad windows from Carlson. Inside No 14, there is a front living room off the hallway that’s decked out in a mid-century style. To the rear, the kitchen/diner has a set of sliding glass doors that lead to a landscaped garden with granite paving and red cedar to the raised beds, fencing and benches.

The kitchen is fitted with Pedini units from Italy, integrated Siemens appliances, and a Quooker boiling water tap. There’s also a guest WC on the ground floor.

As well as being home to the second reception room, the first floor has a bedroom and a bathroom. The master ensuite is located on the second floor, as is the third bedroom and another bathroom. The ensuite and bathrooms come with Villeroy & Boch sanitaryware.

Outside, the electric car charging point is capable of charging a vast array of e-car models, while PV panels on the roof generate power.

Viewings at Enderly are by appointment.

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