Blink and you'll miss Garville Drive, a terrace of eight houses almost hidden from view on Garville Avenue, a road off Rathgar Road known for its fine period houses.
The eight, four-bedroom houses were built by developer Elmhill Homes who, with Montane Developments as builders, also did Tivoli Place, a development of five terraced houses of between 142sq m and 200sq m, in Dún Laoghaire, on the site of the former children’s orphanage.
The Dublin 6 development features fine homes that extend to about 186sq m (2,000sq ft) and are set out over three floors. The first four of these houses sold quietly last September for the same prices: €1,075,000. These are being sold through agent SherryFitzGerald.
The showhouse has an interior by Nicola Pollard Design. Each house opens into a good-sized hall with a coffered ceiling, wainscot panelling and radiator covers as standard: these help set the high-spec tone for the rest of the property. In the formal living room the inset wood-burning stove is a focal point.
There is a large kitchen/living/dining room to the rear bathed in light by a wall of glazing and a roof light. Kitchen Elegance did the smart painted units, composite stone countertops, in shades of grey, and the fitted appliances by Smeg include an American-style fridge with freezer drawers and a 100cm wide oven and five-burner hob. There’s even a neat mini wine fridge.
Solar panels
The garden is small, only 8.5m (28ft) long, and is set out with a patio of reconstituted sandstone and an artificial-grass lawn.
Downstairs there is a sizeable basement of 32sq m (350 sq ft) something you don’t usually see in Irish homes and, while not considered a room – it is ventilated but has no windows – it does offer children or teens a place to call their own.
On the first floor there are two very good sized double bedrooms with generous built-in wardrobes and each with a roomy shower en suite.
There are two more rooms on the second floor. One has been fitted out as a bedroom and has an en suite, while the fourth has been set up as a study. The smallest of all the accommodation, it has two steps up to a smart terrace from where you can admire the roofscape of redbrick Rathgar.
The A2 rated homes have mechanical heat recovery systems, Carlson windows, solar panels, two parking spaces to the front.
The most recent sale on Garville Avenue to be recorded on the property price register is from 2015 when number 7, which needed complete modernisation, was put up for sale with an AMV of €585,000 and sold for €907,000.
Meanwhile the highest price recorded on the road in recent times was €1.7million in 2013 for number 33, Glyndwr, on a third of an acre, which agent Lisney sought €1.95 million for.
