Richview Lodge on Clonskeagh Road has a seriously impressive Victorian-era entrance with tall, curved walls, stone gate posts topped with stone balls and a pair of iron gates.
It’s a strong hint that the lodge, which can’t be fully seen from the road, has an interesting history. It was once the gate lodge of Richview House, the grand home of the Masonic boy’s school for orphans before that was bought in the 1980s for use as the UCD architecture school.
But by the 1970s the gate lodge was a tiny, very dilapidated, two-up two-down building with assorted lean-to extensions. It had fallen into disrepair before being bought by the current owners in 1985.
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They set about a long programme of renovation to the protected structure and over time they extended to the side and rear so that the pretty, detached four- bedroom house is now three times its original size with 216sq m (2,325sq ft). It is for auction by Sherry FitzGerald on June 12th with an AMV of €1,150,000.
The front door to the side of the house opens into a mostly glazed roofed hallway with a guest toilet at the far end. Off the hall is the living room – it would originally have been the entire ground-floor level of the house.
Now it features a contemporary custom-made staircase, new oak flooring and a double-height atrium with roof lights to bring more daylight in. Modern sliding doors divide this livingroom from the kitchen which in turn leads into the family room at the back of the house and then out into the garden.
The kitchen, which was updated in 2006, is fitted with birch wood units topped with granite and there is a separate, good-sized utility room.
The side extension made space for two large double bedrooms with en suites, one at ground level, the other upstairs. There are also two additional bedrooms upstairs, both doubles, and a family bathroom.
One aspect of the layout that prospective owners might find unusual is that one of the bedrooms opens directly off the livingroom. That’s because it was once a formal dining room but the owners found that a large bedroom with shower en suite would be more useful.
The beautifully landscaped gardens wrap around the house and are not overlooked.
There is off- street parking for several cars and for convenience the iron gates are electrically controlled. There is also a pedestrian entrance, a glossy black timber door in the curved wall, which opens into a most unusual home to find in the suburbs.
