Take two in D6 – EMMA CULLINANvisits a cosy three-storey home, while FRANCES O'ROURKEwrites about a nearby house with a modern makeover
RICHMOND HILL €795,000
THE SWAN RIVER used to flow along where Richmond Hill Road in Rathmines, Dublin 6, is now, hence the long front garden at 21 Richmond Hill, Dublin 6. Its neighbouring houses have them too and some people have put car ports in theirs – but the current owners of number 21 house resisted such a move.
“I like the Mrs Havisham feel of it,” says one of them, and the journey up the meandering path through plants to the front door is nicer than squeezing past cars.
The long front garden makes up for the relatively small garden at the back, which is curtailed by Leinster Cricket ground.
When the couple bought this house – which is for sale at €795,000 through Sherry FitzGerald – it came with a tenant in the basement, who has since died, who had a right to live there rent-free for life. His family had owned the house since the 1880s. “Friends thought we were mad to buy,” they say, but actually the couple were rewarded a tenant who turned out to be a fascinating Dublin character.
So they began by living on the top two floors and kept the period features, including fireplaces, floorboards, shutters, plasterwork and tall sash windows. They restored various elements, including the windows, and added a timber, brick and stone-floored conservatory at garden level reached through a white kitchen. The kitchen was made by a German man who built it in Germany and shipped it over.
Just up from the kitchen are the main reception rooms, which work as one large space well lit by sash windows at either end that reach from the ceiling almost to the floor. There’s a period fireplace in each room and, to the rear, built-in bookcases made by a well-known artist for a friend who once lived here.
On the upper return is a bathroom that came with such a beautiful, large old basin – by Lawson and Sons – that the couple designed the bathroom around it. As with all the rooms, materials are natural – stone and ceramic here – as are the colours, at the pale end of the spectrum.
On the top floor the main bedroom runs across the width of the house and has two large sash windows offering views out to the green dome on Mary Immaculate Catholic Church in Rathmines, which glows at night. Behind this is another bedroom, overlooking the rear garden.
The couple have converted the basement, damp-proofing it and creating a bathroom, an artist’s studio with a substantial double Belfast sink and a living room to the rear leading out to a sunken patio. A small water feature completes the idea of flowing from the now underground river.
21 Richmond Hill, Rathmines, Dublin 6Three-storey house, with period features
Agent: Sherry FitzGerald
GROSVENOR SQUARE €925,000
A CLASSIC Rathmines redbrick which has been given a full modern makeover is tucked away on one of Dublin 6’s hidden squares. Number 8 Grosvenor Square is a terraced two-storey over garden level period home for sale for €925,000 through Knight Frank.
During the boom years, restored redbricks – many rescued from flatland and turned back into family homes – were fetching double this and more. Number 8 has been restored by its owners over the past six years – they bought it in 2006.
The period features – sash windows and shutters, marble fireplaces, original wooden floors – of the listed Victorian building have been retained. Upstairs are interconnecting reception rooms, where the drawingroom overlooks Grosvenor Square. There’s a study at this level with spiral stairs down to the garden.
There are four bedrooms on the first floor and a fifth in the converted attic. The main living space is down at garden level, where a handsome modern kitchen – wooden floor, island unit, Rangemaster oven and so on – opens into a living room. There’s also a dining room which opens into the long back garden, which has a garage with rear access from the back. There is residents’ parking on the street at the front. The house overlooks Grosvenor Square, which has a tennis and bowling club. The square is off Leinster Road.
8 Grosvenor Square, Rathmines, D6Terraced two-storey period home
Agent: Knight Frank
