Sitric Road is one of the warren of streets that run in perpendicular lines from Arbour Hill to Manor Place, just off Stoneybatter’s Manor Street. The brick terraced houses capture a sense of the north of England’s industrial heritage, far more than they do a sense of Dublin but with the area’s gentrification these are popular homes with young families.
The street’s best-known landmark is the Lilliput Press a gorgeous corner shop facade which faces number 1 Sitric Road, an end of terrace house where the idea of an urban garden germinated 15 years ago. It was urban ecologist Kaethe Burt O’Dea’s idea to set up a composting cum garden in the patch of land to the side of number 1 – a small area that had its own gate to the street. As a Sitric Road resident herself, she asked the owner if she and other local residents could turn it into a garden using recycled materials, and the owner, now deceased, agreed. The project, to see if she could recycle all her household waste, formed part of her master’s in advanced environmental studies.
"I couldn't get rid of the organic waste", she explained, and through funding from Vodafone, invested in a selection of composters that she installed in the green space. These included a rotating device and one that used thermal blocks she imported from Denmark. She even gave workshops but over time residents assumed it was a service, that she was composting for them rather than showing them how to compost.
The garden has now changed purpose to become a bee sanctuary and is home to two rare breeds, a red mason bee and a leafcutter bee, nesting in a wild bee box there.
Inside, the house, although extended about 30 years ago, needs modernisation. It measures 59sq m in size and opens into a small hall with a small room to the front that has been used as a bedroom. Consequently, the property is being sold as a three-bedroom property.
The space to the rear is a good size and also occupies the stairs which leads up to its two double bedrooms.
Both rooms have nice cast-iron fireplaces and original and paned-glass sash windows. In many of the neighbouring properties residents have knocked these two rooms into one. A sliding door that lets you close one off one from the other might be a smarter option as it would provide more flexibility on how to use the space.
There is a galley kitchen to the rear. It is lit by a roof light above and by a glass-paned door that leads through to the property’s only bathroom. There is a tiny yard, just big enough to keep a bin.
The house, which includes 10sq m of south-facing garden to its side, is asking €375,000 through agents Brady Property Management.
Number 19, a refurbished, two-bed, mid-terrace house on the same side of the street, 66sq m in size, is asking €380,000 through agents The Property Shop. It originally came to market last November asking €395,000 and its price was dropped by €15,000 last May.
Number 39, a similar sized two-bedroom house, on the same side of the street, sold for €335,000 last January while in February number 52, came to market asking €330,000 and sold for €307,000, according to the property price register.
