The owner of 74 Monkstown Road has some startling “before” pictures of his now beautifully renovated Victorian home.

Dark, damp and missing many original features, the mid-19th century house was in very poor condition when he bought it in 2010 for €815,000. It’s unrecognisable now – renovated and modernised to the last detail and stylishly decorated so that new owners will have nothing to do.

It’s a protected structure so the work was protracted and detailed – but the owner got what he wanted including replacing the uPVC windows with historically sympathetic double glazed sashes.

Work included commissioning the Dublin Mould Company to replace missing decorative ceiling plasterwork  in the hall and rear reception room and  sourcing cast iron radiators.

Victorian two-storey over garden level houses tend to follow the same layout but this is slightly different – the grandly proportioned front reception room has two windows facing onto Monkstown Road and another tall sash to the side looking out to Monkstown Parish Church.

There’s another gable window upstairs with that same church view in a lovely open space at the top of the stairs. Also upstairs are two double bedrooms, an en suite and bathroom. A dramatically tall-round headed window throws light onto the staircase and in the hall level return there’s an office space looking out over the back garden.

Major work took place down at garden level where the floor was dug down for insulation but also  to increase the ceiling height. The third bedroom is down here – a large double adjacent to a bathroom, with both located to the front of the house.

A small extension at the rear – with an exposed granite stone feature wall – makes for a large, well-designed open-plan kitchen, dining, living space, floored with marble tiling with a wall of glazed doors opening out to the newly landscaped rear, north facing garden.

The custom built timber kitchen with its Lacanche stove and large stone-topped island is designed for serious cooking and relaxed entertaining. There’s a utility room in the return on this level.

When the house changed hands in 2010 the garden was intact but it has now been sectioned off and a contemporary style mews, which is not part of the sale, has been built. To the front there is parking for two cars.

No 74 Monkstown Road is for sale through agent Vincent Finnegan for €1.75 million.