When one of Dublin’s most successful Edwardian builders, Stringer, put the finishing touches on his newly-built houses on Highfield Road, Rathgar in 1908 the neighbours across the road in the vast Victorian two-storey-over-basement piles must have regarded them, maybe a little sniffily, as modest homes for Dublin’s emerging middle-classes. Which they were, though they were built for a more modern way of living.
The new double-fronted semi-detached red bricks had no basements for servants – though the 1911 census shows that most would have had a live-in housekeeper – and some motoring owners took the option of having a garage at the end of the back garden.
Family friendly
They are no longer viewed as modest – at 265sq m (2,850sq ft), 77 Highfield Road is a large family home and the price, €1.95 million through Sherry FitzGerald, puts them on par with prices being sought for older, grander houses in the area. The most recent sale of one of these Stringer houses was in 2011, when there was little activity in the market and number 71 sold by private treaty for €1.95 million.
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The layout is particularly family friendly. There are three formal reception rooms – a smaller parlour room to the left, and two interconnecting rooms to the right.
Upstairs off a wide landing there are four double bedrooms, one has an en suite, and a large family bathroom. A room on the return is used as a home office but it would easily work as a fifth bedroom.
The same family have lived in number 77 for just over 20 years and are now trading down to a smaller house. When they moved in, they did a considerable amount of work, extending and modernising, and it has stood the test of time so that other than redecorating, it’s difficult to see what changes new owners might want to make. A major addition was the extension across the back of the house which added a large, mostly-glazed room which is now a dining area as well as a family space.
The kitchen has a gas-fired five door Aga and is attractively fitted out with bespoke units and there’s a good utility room.
The family also extended into the attic and created a large, bright room which is accessed by a narrow spiral staircase.
Throughout the house there are trademark Stringer touches such as decorative stained glass in doors and windows, feature fireplaces and deep bay windows on both levels.
The converted red brick garage is likely to be a selling point for buyers looking for a granny flat, a studio or similar accommodation. Now one large room, with a showerroom, it incorporates a kitchen area and opens out onto a flagstone patio. There’s also a sturdy-looking greenhouse at the end of the north-facing back garden.
There is off street parking to the front for two or three cars.
