50 Cowper Road asking €2.05m; 4 Cowper Gardens asking €1.295m: Two houses in the Cowper neighbourhood are for sale, both by people who have lived there for decades, writes EMMA CULLINAN

TWO HOUSES in the leafy Cowper neighbourhood between Ranelagh and Rathmines in Dublin 6 are for sale, both by people who have lived here for decades. Both homes are on the same road, on either side of the Cowper Luas stop, although the street name changes so one is at 50 Cowper Road and the other is at 4 Cowper Gardens. Sherry FitzGerald is seeking €2.05 million for the first and €1.295 million for the second.

The owner of 50 Cowper Road moved here 38 years ago and was immediately struck by the hall – and no wonder. The square space – around which the whole floorplan revolves – rises up through three floors with a dark timber staircase turning up past a bedroom and bathroom on the return, three bedrooms on the first floor and up again through the centre of a clear space to a bedroom at the top of the building.

The front hall sets the tone for the whole house with its generous proportions, timber floors, sash windows, bay windows, decorative plasterwork and stained glass details – all from the pre-war Edwardian age of craftsmanship and decorative detail.

On the ground floor, to the left of the front door, are two connecting rooms, running from the front to the back of the house, with marble fireplaces in both. French windows lead to the large, elegant back garden, which currently has a close-cropped lawn with undulating edges surrounded by shrubs.

The kitchen and cosy ante-room, reached down stairs on the opposite side of the main hall, is also beside the south-facing garden. At the moment the smart kitchen – with cream panelled units – takes up half of the space, with a dining area looking over the garden on the other half. The current owner thinks newcomers may want to use the whole space for a kitchen but it would also be good to take the kitchen/dining area right back to the garden by moving the utility area which currently cuts off direct access to the exterior.

On the first floor return, and the first and top floors, which share five bedrooms between them, the leafy location shines. The front two bedrooms on the first floor – a double and a smaller one beside it – look into trees and across quiet Cowper Road. To the rear is a gorgeous large double room looking onto the garden.

On the top floor the bedroom is at the side of the 221 sq m (2,380 sq ft) house overlooking the neighbour’s large garden.

50 Cowper Road

ALL IS leafy at 4 Cowper Gardens too, with its six-year-old kitchen extension looking out across a wide garden and along a whole street of neighbouring gardens. The owner designed the warm, bright space on two levels, to add interest, so the kitchen units (along with a cosy range) are on a higher level and the seating area is down steps. Here there are folding doors that retreat right back to take the wall away on sunny days and link it withe the outside; the owner got the idea from similar doors in nearby TriBeca restaurant.

To one side of the kitchen is a wine storage space with an impressive coded system for finding the right wines (currently comprising mainly Italian varieties). There is a utility space next to this. While he has lived in this house for eight years, the owner has been in the neighbourhood for 26 years. He used to live in a smaller house around the corner, and when he put it up for sale his elderly neighbours at No 4 asked if he’d do a swap with them. So, in a wonderful solution, he paid them the difference and they downsized and he got a bigger space. “We all moved on the same day,” he laughs, with most of the street helping the two households to move their things between residences.

Behind the kitchen to the front of the house is a neat room with shelving made by Oakline which will be sold with the house. On the other side of the hall are two connected sitting-rooms running from the front to the back of the house, where a door opens onto a deck. Upstairs is a bathroom that was beautifully revamped at the same time as the kitchen was being reconfigured: this has pale, sandy tiles on the floor and walls, a corner bath and a shower. There are four bedrooms on this floor.

The 201 sq m (2,165 sq ft) house, which dates from 1927, in is excellent condition throughout: clean without being stark or fussy. “It’s a happy house,” says the owner.

4 Cowper Gardens