Clontarf’s seafront has utterly transformed. More than a decade ago Pure Magic saw its potential when it opened its watersports school and shop, and since then cafes and restaurants have mushroomed up around it. The green spaces are now colonised by dog walkers and a variety of fitness tribes from middle-aged men in lycra on bikes, to power walkers and those that avail of the free outdoor gym equipment. “It sometimes resembles muscle beach,” say the owners of number 250 Clontarf Road.
And it was this swathe of green and its sea views taking in the south wall and the Bull Wall that first drew the couple to the house. It is very much a substitute garden, they say.
And what a resource it is, especially from the comfort of this walk-in condition, semi-detached, home. The box-bay-fronted property is situated less than a two-minute walk from the wooden bridge across to Dollymount Strand and its kite surfers, the North Wall, and its shipping container cafe Happy Out, a great place to escape the wind on a blustery day.
The couple bought the property in October 2016, paying €550,000 for it, according to the property price register. They immediately set about gutting it and upgrading the BER rating to a respectable (for a period property) C1 and installing alu-clad double-glazed windows to the front and double-glazed uPVC styles to the rear.
Views
Built in the late 1800s, the house opens into a timber-floored hall complete with Victorian arch. In the reception rooms there are interconnecting doors between the bay-windowed sitting room to the front and the dining room to the rear. Both spaces have cast-iron fireplaces with tiled inserts, but the view from the living room is what makes this room really special, and while you’re looking out to a very busy road the traffic din is barely audible.
The original footprint has not been extended, instead the rear was opened up, replacing the dining-room window with a glass door and, in the kitchen, glass sliding doors open out to the south and west-facing porcelain-tiled rear.
There is a utility room hidden behind the eat-in kitchen and a guest toilet under the stairs.
Upstairs on the return is the property’s fourth bedroom and where the family bathroom is located. On the first floor there is a sizeable landing and three bedrooms; two doubles and a single. The double to the rear has a shower en suite and the single room to the front, currently a child’s room, may boast the best views in Dublin. While the en suite is in the back bedroom the owners use the front room as their master. The box bay captures an uninterrupted seascape from Howth to Dalkey Island taking in the Sugar Loaf and the Pigeon House chimney stacks. In all the property measures 151sq m/1,625 sq ft, and parking is on street.
Seeking €875,000 through agent SherryFitzGerald, it could be worth exploring getting planning to install a crow’s nest style terrace, set back into the roof within the attic space. This is a house that is all about its front.
