In 2013, the residents of Lennox Street, after a year of campaigning and negotiations with Dublin City Council, managed to save the trees on their street in the heart of Portobello. The smaller red brick houses on the street were built by the Dublin Artisan Dwelling Company in 1885 and to this day a sense of community still exists.
No 45 has been home to Gerry Benson, a retired civil servant, and his wife Elizabeth. They purchased the property in 2012 for €300,000. It is now for sale through Sherry FitzGerald with an asking price of €495,000.
“It was really just a shell then” says Gerry. “We lifted the floor and put an insulated membrane down.” This is now hidden by new knotted oak flooring that runs throughout the ground floor.
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A new galley kitchen in earthy tones from TJ O’Mahony runs through an extension, which opens out to a small sunny courtyard.
"The fireplace is original and was covered in 130 years of paint," says Gerry, of the quaint cast-iron fireplace on the ground floor. (Both bedrooms upstairs also have working fireplaces.) "We brought it to Paramount Fireplaces on Montpellier Hill, who restored it as new."
The front door, with a rather high spy hole, is original and was restored by Callaghan Joinery in Navan.
The bathroom, laid out as a wet room, is on the ground floor and features a huge rainfall shower with remote control speakers in the ceiling, so one can listen to Wagner while washing.
Upstairs via a new oak staircase are two bright bedrooms with plenty of storage. Further storage is in the attic, which is above five foot at its highest point. “I put a firewall in there as you could walk through all the attics along the terrace,” says Gerry.
It appears that many of the residents in parts of Portobello have shared their attic spaces for over a century.
