For the owners of 37 St Mary’s Road, the renovation of their Victorian redbrick wasn’t just about turning the house, which had been divided into bedsits, back into a family home. It was also about using eco-technologies to make sure that they ended up with a comfortable home that despite its age and size 280sq m (3,000sq ft) is affordable to live in. And they achieved it – the annual heating bill is about €1,500. The BER rating is B3 – impressive for a house that is 160 years old.
The owners bought nearly four years ago and the renovation took the best part of a year because all the basics, including a new roof and underpining, were required and they wanted to get the basics right because the original idea was that the house would be theirs for good.
Now work demands a relocation back home, out of Ireland, and so the four-bedroom house is once again for sale, through Hunter’s, for €1.95 million. The fact that the renovation work has been done will be attractive to buyers but so too will be the mews potential in the 33m back garden. This is one of the few houses on this side of the road that doesn’t yet have a mews in the back garden.
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An unusual feature of the layout – it’s common in several houses on this road – is that while the two large and nicely proportioned reception rooms interconnect, they don’t have double doors, instead there is a single door, off centre, between the rooms. In other house renovations, owners have either blocked it up entirely or else knocked a bigger opening and installed double doors. These owners kept the original layout here but changed it at the back where a new single-storey extension allows for a playroom, a large diningroom, a smart kitchen with granite-topped oak units and a utility room.
The entire ground floor is tiled – even the reception rooms which have wood-effect tiles – to improve the efficiency of the underfloor heating. The extension has a “green roof”, planted with miniature heathers and wild flowers, part of the owners environmentally friendly mission for the house.
There are four double bedrooms, one with a full-sized bathroom en suite. There’s also a large family family bathroom with smart contemporary fittings including shower unit, matching sinks and a Jacuzzi bath. A small room at the top of the house, now used mostly as a laundry room, could make a quiet home office.
There is off-street parking to the rear in the garage.
