Hidden Arts and Crafts-style gem with great gardens

The chief attractions of a four/five bedroom semi-detached house for sale in Dún Laoghaire are its location, hidden away at the bottom of one of Dún Laoghaire’s grand Victorian terraces, and its lovely long rear garden.

Verdemay is one of eight houses with Arts and Crafts-style exteriors built in 1939 just off the corner of Crosthwaite Park South, on what was originally farmland, according to the current owner.

The owners, an artist and a film set decorator, have lived here for 25 years: a few years after moving in, like their neighbour, they expanded at the side. The extension was pretty seamless: you wouldn’t guess from looking at it that Verdemay, now a double-fronted house with bay windows upstairs and down on both sides, wasn’t originally built to this design.

A comfortable 173sq m (1,862sq ft) house is now for sale by private treaty through agent Vincent Finnegan for €1.25 million.

Red Kitchen

Accommodation downstairs includes a livingroom, double bedroom and an L-shaped kitchen/diningroom. The open-plan livingroom, with a wide bay window, off the left of the small front hall, runs from the front to the back of the house, with a wide arch in the middle. Striking art by one of the owners lines the walls; there are colourful rugs on the polished oak floor, an open fireplace with inset tiles and a timber mantelpiece and  built-in bookshelves. A glazed door opens onto the outside deck at the back.

Walls in the kitchen side of the L-shaped kitchen/diningroom are painted a striking red, a smart contrast to the white walls of the dining space. Black polished granite tops the counters. The diningroom is bright, with a large Velux over it, a bay window looking into the back garden and French doors at the side opening onto the back deck. There’s a small utility room and toilet off the kitchen.

The double bedroom at this level, with a bay window overlooking the front, could be used as a study or another family room. There are three more bedrooms upstairs, but one – which runs from the front to the back of the house – could be converted back into two separate rooms. Currently this space is used as an artist’s studio.

Striking yews

The main bedroom has  a good-sized en suite and a small balcony overlooking the rear garden; there’s another double bedroom at the front of the house  and a family bathroom.

The garden is a very long, very private space lined with mature trees, including two striking yews. Steps from a plant-filled deck lead down to a lawn which narrows down to a bower opening into a granite-walled herb garden. The high wall at the very end was built for Verdemay by the evangelical church behind that fronts onto Glenageary Road Lower.

At the front of the house, there’s parking for two cars off the private driveway shared by the eight houses. All eight houses have  their own share of a front garden that’s like a mini-woodland running alongside the driveway.

Verdemay also has access to the railed park between Crosthwaite’s imposing Victorian terraces east and west, a well-maintained green space.