When the current owners of a terraced, 150-year-old house on a quiet street in Glasthule bought it in 1999 for £291,000 Irish pounds (around €370,000), it needed a lot of work. In the past 15 years, they’ve done it, turning the Victorian property into a bright, comfortable, tastefully restored modern home. Now 10 Martello Avenue, Glasthule, Co Dublin, is for sale by private treaty through DNG for €850,000.
Martello Avenue is a short, secluded street next to the People’s Park in Dún Laoghaire, nearly opposite Sandycove Dart station. It’s a cul-de-sac with a pedestrian entrance to the Metals, the footpath next to the rail line that runs from Dún Laoghaire to Dalkey. The street takes its name from the fact that there was once a Martello tower in what is now the People’s Park: it was demolished in the 1850s, shortly before this terrace of homes was built.
The restoration of number 10 involved major structural work as well as careful attention to period detail in redecoration. The 165sq m (1,775sq ft) house got a new roof in 2000 and there is underfloor insulation throughout the ground floor. Where needed, details such as centre roses and stained glass windows were replaced, but with such care it’s hard to tell which are and aren’t originals.
The front door opens through a stained glass door with a fanlight into a long timber-floored hall. The interconnecting livingroom and drawingroom off it are spacious, with large sash windows looking over front and back gardens: they each have large original fireplaces, attractive ceiling roses, cornicing and timber floors.
The kitchen, at the back of the house, is floored with terracotta-coloured tiles, splashbacks behind wooden countertops are small glass brick tiles and there’s a large dining area. The kind of tasteful detail seen all over this house is evident in an understairs toilet, where one wall has been left as exposed stone.
Upstairs, a beautiful original stained glass window dominates the archway that separates the back from the front of the house; Veluxes over the landing also make it exceptionally bright. The main bedroom at the back looks through a large bay window over the park next door. Up a few more stairs are a bathroom and three good-sized bedrooms: you can just about see the sea and the Joyce Tower at the nearby Forty Foot from the two at the front.
The raised back garden is small and fully decked, decorated with attractive potted plants. Very private, it looks down into the park next door. There’s a small pedestrian lane at the back, shared by this and two other houses, giving rear access. There’s a neat, lawned front garden and residents’ permit parking on the street.
