This is a house which, even though it has been extended, modernised, given a rear, open-plan living area and functioning attic room, remains steeped in the mood and elegance of its Edwardian-style origins.
The Edwardian period (1901-1910) had, strictly speaking, ended by the time Charles Archer built number 32 Alma Road, along with eight other redbrick semis, in the 1920s. But he stuck with the Edwardian style and its virtues are everywhere evident in number 32.
Houses on the popular Alma Road come in a variety of styles – those across the road from number 32 are, for example, Victorian. They sell well too: number 32’s four-bed neighbour sold for €1.45 million in 2016 and a year later number 39 sold for €1.875 million.
The vendors paid €1.9 million for number 32 when they bought it in 2006 and since then have invested time, money and family life, as well as increasing the floor space to 223sq m (2,400sq ft). Twelve years later, with a growing family, they are upsizing, hopefully to a larger house in Monkstown. Agent Beirne Wise is placing it on the market for €1.495 million.
The rear, single-storey open-plan kitchen/dining/family space is the most obvious addition. Something of a sunroom, with wraparound ceiling to floor windows on two sides, the relaxed family area faces into the side patio and lawned back garden. The retention of the original, small range as a showpiece in the well-fitted kitchen is a nice touch. Heading further into the house there are shower and utility rooms, and a uniformity to it all through the use of the same creamy-beige tiles used in the kitchen.
The entrance hallway and formal reception rooms are where the Edwardian mood and style come into their own. The hallway’s original floorboards are darkly varnished, there are picture and dado rails and original double, stained-glass panels in the front door. Original windows have been faithfully replaced in the front drawingroom (and elsewhere), radiators are antique-style and an original mahogany fireplace has a shining, brass canopy. The adjoining, rear diningroom has a slightly less ornate mahogany fireplace and French doors to the patio.
Diamond-shaped black-and-white tiles give an enduring flair to the second floor family bathroom where there is also a free-standing, claw foot bath, tongue-and-groove panelling and separate shower.
The bedrooms are gracious and have long windows, picture rails and cast-iron fireplaces. An attic conversion, with full stairs leading up, has created a second-floor bedroom with Dublin Bay views to Howth and a shower room. There is off-street parking for two cars to the front.
