In recent years many sales on Marlborough Road – which links Donnybrook with Ranelagh – have followed a familiar pattern whereby houses, long carved up into bedsits and flats, have been bought by buyers with the considerable energy – and matching funds – required to turn bring them back into single family occupancy. Not that all the houses on the road are the same but they are nearly all Victorians covering the wide range of house styles that era offered.
Number 41 Marlborough Road is a typical two storey over basement terraced red brick. Its owners bought it in 2004 when it was in flats and restored, renovated and extended so that it is now a three-bedroom 268sq m/ 2,885sq ft family home – finished with considerable style and contemporary design flourishes.
They have moved on – trading up in the area – but in a smart move they have left their house furnished for viewing during the sale so that it has an appealingly lived-in feel, giving prospective buyers a clear idea how they would decorate and furnish the three-storey property. While most of the work was done when they moved in, more recently they upgraded the kitchen, bathroom and en suite – three expensive rooms new owners usually want to make over but here the work is done. This house is in walk-in condition – even the pickiest buyers will find little to change.
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The three bedrooms are two doubles and a single. The main bedroom is at the rear, opening via a sliding mirrored door into a contemporary styled en suite in the return. The family bathroom, also in the return, is large and bright with a sash window and a thought-through design that includes clever features such as the laundry chute that drops clothes down to the basement utility room.
High ceilings
The main reception rooms with their high ceilings and attractive proportions are restored to their original glory with matching fireplaces, decorative ceiling plasterwork and now with wide plank walnut flooring.
The basement area is where the original layout is most changed. What would have been two rooms have been knocked together and an attractive, mostly glazed extension has been added at the rear so that it is in effect one long room divided into sections – a kitchen to the front, dining in the middle and a relaxed seating area at the rear. Visiting it on a very bright day the middle area was a little gloomy – even with the three pendant lights on over the dining table – although an interesting design feature is the opening in the wall out to the hallway – an effort to bring more light into this middle section. The seating area at the rear garden end is much brighter.
The sleek McNally kitchen ticks all the high-end boxes and includes marble worktops and splashbacks, plenty of storage, a wine cooler and an island unit.
There is another room, in the hall floor return, currently fitted out as a home office but potentially a fourth bedroom – it is close to the hall floor guest toilet and the shower room off the utility room in the basement.
Everything that could be done with this house has been done – including building a single storey 37.2sq m (401sq ft) studio at the end of the landscaped rear garden. Fitted out as a gym, it has a toilet and a kitchen area so buyers might choose to use it as extra accommodation for adult children or au pairs. There is pedestrian access from the studio to a lane at the rear.
There is off-street parking for two cars at the front.
Sherry FitzGerald is the agent and number 41 Marlborough Road is for sale for €1.795 million.
