When Fergus Quinlan and Kay Cronin sell their terraced house at 51 Botanic Road, Glasnevin, Dublin 9, it will be anchors aweigh as they set sail across the Atlantic on their yacht Pylades. They are leaving behind a redbrick period house that is a perfect oasis of tranquility, a few yards from Griffith Park and a short walk from Dublin's Botanic Gardens.
Agent Douglas Newman Good is guiding £150,000 for the two-bedroom property in advance of the auction on March 11th. The architect owner has made good use of space and light. Window blinds, beds, light fittings, kitchen equipment and even the plants will be left behind when the owners set sail.
Over the past nine years, the house has been damp-proofed, rewired and re-plumbed and a new kitchen built onto the back, with maple units and exposed brick walls. The original sash windows have been stripped and re-hung and pine shutters made to fit. Floors were sanded and polished and clear glass panels fitted on interconnecting doors to create an effect of depth and light throughout the house.
The interior is decorated in cool shades of sea green, dove grey and ivory. A stained glass front door leads to the hallway, which has a dado rail and a polished timber floor. The front reception room has a pine floor, and attractive castiron fireplace. There is a roomy livingroom at the back of the house with a cast-iron stove in a brick alcove and timber mantelpiece, a pine floor and outside window shutters. Off this, there is a small diningroom with a quarry-tiled floor and recessed shelving.
The kitchen/breakfastroom has a good range of cupboards with a thick worktop made from maple floorboards. There is a cosy breakfast counter and quarry tiles on the floor. Cooker, refrigerator, microwave and washing machine are all included in the sale. Upstairs there is a wide landing that would accommodate a desk and chair with ease.
The main bedroom at the front of the house has a wall of built-in wardrobes, a cast-iron fireplace and pine flooring. Bedroom two is also double in size and has a built-in bed with storage underneath, bedside shelves and a cast-iron fireplace. This room has exterior window shutters. The bathroom has an original castiron bath, white-painted pine flooring, white and grey tiling and a pine cabinet. There is a pull-down access ladder to a floored attic.
Outside at the front, there is a small well-planted garden with a weeping birch, clematis and an ivy-covered wall screening the small convenience shop next door from view. There is a walled Japanese-style garden at the back with stone flags, pebbles, tiles, an abundance of greenery and a wooden bench beside a small pool. The house has a rear entrance out to a laneway where the owners park their car.
The boat, which will be home to the owners of number 51 for the next year or two, was built in steel by the couple at a boat yard at East Wall. It took three years of cutting, grinding and welding, and a further two years of fitting and trials, to make the Pylades sufficiently seaworthy for the voyage across the Atlantic.
The couple named the yacht after the first ship captained by Fergus' grandfather, who sailed with the City of Cork Steampacket Company. In May, trade winds permitting, the pair will stock up with supplies and set a course south to the Canaries and Cape Verde islands, then west across the Atlantic, to arrive in New York harbour via the Bahamas around June 2,000. The homeward journey will take them back across the North Atlantic to arrive at Newquay, Co Clare.
