On busy main roads, houses that are set back from the road tend to be the most sought after – and maybe there are other houses in Dublin 6 that are as set back as Cranford at 125 Rathgar Road but it’s hard to think of any.
Its tree-lined driveway is more than 99m long and it probably goes without saying the period villa-style house is not visible from Rathgar’s main road. Now on about 0.5 of an acre, it is likely that the attractive looking 369sq m (3,972sq ft) house was once on an even larger plot as it has the trappings associated with a much larger property – a gate lodge and a mews. The gate lodge is not part of the sale and does not share the driveway having one of its own, while the 93sq m (1,000sq ft) two-storey mews, possibly a converted stables to the side, does.
Four main rooms The late Georgian house has the simple layout of the era – four principal rooms on each level, although the layout has changed somewhat with the addition of bathrooms and a large conservatory at the rear. The current owners bought 30 years ago and redecorated and updated the house, which has a long list of period features, around 15 years ago.
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Off the wide hall to the front is the formal living room on one side, a dining room on the other, each with fine fireplaces and tall sash windows. An unusual feature of the livingroom is the pair of stained glass windows in the gable wall on either side of the fireplace. These would have originally been the public rooms – a second set of stained glass-inset doors in the hall opens to an inner hall and the back of the house where there are two bedrooms, one with a bathroom en suite, and a narrow study.
Downstairs there are three more double bedrooms, a bathroom, a cloakroom, the kitchen and family room as well as the large conservatory. The eat-in country-style kitchen is to the front – fitted out with timber units topped with granite. But even on a bright sunny morning it’s a dark room, in contrast to the bright rooms upstairs, and new owners might think about relocating the kitchen to rear – to look out on to the large, well planted and private back garden.
Large mews
The mews was converted by previous owners and continues to be used for storage on the ground floor with a games room upstairs. Given its size, it could easily convert into a habitable mews. There are also a couple of smaller outhouses and a large car port.
Some years ago the owners secured planning permission to build two houses in the driveway but decided against the development and the planning has since lapsed. While it’s not beyond the bounds of possibilities that new owners might think to do the same, it’s unlikely as they will most likely be a family buying the unusual amount of space and privacy that Cranford affords.
Savills and Sherry FitzGerald are joint agents, asking €2.75 million.
