When the owners of 6 Montpelier Parade bought their three-storey-over-basement house on a landmark Monkstown terrace for €1.3 million in 2004, all the structural work had been done: the former owner had reroofed and rewired the house, stripped and restored original timber floors and doors, and kept the original single-glazed windows, in keeping with the rules on protected structures. “Everything we did was cosmetic,” say the owners – although that included putting in a new kitchen, bathrooms and built-in wardrobes.
The result is a fine family home that manages to be both elegant and cosy. It also has good views of the sea from the top floors of the house at the front, and of the Dublin mountains from the back. The houses on the terrace, separated from the main Monkstown Road by a strip of green space and an inner road, were built in 1800.
Number 6 Montpelier Parade, a 265sq m (2,852sq ft) four-bedroom terraced house is now for sale, again for €1.3 million, through DNG. The terrace is also the title – and part backdrop – to a recently published novel, Montpelier Parade.
The interconnecting kitchen and diningroom open off the front hall on the right of the ground floor. The kitchen has a smart stone-tiled floor and tiled splashbacks, black granite worktops and French windows opening out to steps down to the back garden. The diningroom has a cream fireplace and tall sash windows overlooking the front.
Exposed granite
Steps at the back of the hall lead down to a utility room, toilet and open into a large sunroom with exposed granite walls.
The drawingroom on the first floor is the width of the house: it has original plasterwork, a large marble fireplace, and three tall sash windows looking towards the sea. Double doors separate it from the room behind: this is currently a double bedroom with a tiled en suite shower room and it’s accessed off the hall.
The main bedroom at the top of the house – past two landings with tall arched windows with views of the Dublin mountains – is a warm room, with handsome cream wardrobes. The best views of the sea are from here and the large en-suite. There is a second double bedroom at the back of the top floor.
The basement level of the house can be closed off as a separate flat: accommodation here includes a good-sized family room connecting by folding doors to a double bedroom with a tiled en-suite and a kitchen. It has separate access from the front of the house, as well as access to the sunroom and back garden – it was a great place for their sons to hold parties without disturbing their parents, say the couple.
The long, narrow back garden has a deck, a pond and is bordered with mature shrubs and trees. It leads down to a double garage with access to a back laneway. There is also residents’ permit parking on the street at the front.
