Booterstown Avenue offers a vast range of house styles built from the early years of the 1800s. Number 16 is one of a pair at the Rock Road end of the meandering avenue, a semi-detached, double-fronted two-storey house built in the 1840s.
About 15 years ago, a developer bought both houses and renovated them to a high standard before putting each up for auction. He also extended so that they are deceptively large – at 181sq m (1,948sq ft) – and designed for large families. Number 16 has six bedrooms thanks to a good return at the back with space for a double bedroom and a converted attic with two more bedrooms plus a shower room.
Original decorative features were retained, a fact instantly clear from the vividly coloured Victorian encaustic tiles restored to their original glory on the hall floor. Off that hall to the left is the formal living room, with its marble chimneypiece and sash windows at either end of the dual aspect room.
The current owner, whose meticulous approach to interior design is clear from the perfectly presented house, added timber panelling to this room and the hallway. A door on the other side of the hall opens into a formal dining room and then into a family room and out to the eat-in kitchen in an extended area to the rear.
Upstairs the original layout was changed with the main bedroom to the front now enjoying two sash windows (one of these would originally have been part of the landing). It has a fireplace and an en suite that was redone in the past year. There are two more bedrooms on this floor and a very smart contemporary style family bathroom with a free-standing bath and corner shower.
The owner is big on storage, and commissioned bespoke wardrobes for all the bedrooms and cupboards in the dining room and family room. These are all painted to suit the rooms and throughout the house the colours are muted and modern. To the rear is a now mature professionally landscaped garden.
The intention 15 years ago was that it could be used for off-street parking for two cars. The current owners didn’t bother with this, instead used a single parking space to the side.
16 Booterstown Avenue is for sale through Sherry FitzGerald, asking €1.45 million.
