“I might be a bit biased, but I think this is the perfect family home,” says the vendor of Number 17 Oaklands Drive, which is on sale through Mullery O’Gara Estate Agents, seeking €1.25 million.
He should know, having enjoyed a happy childhood growing up in this four-bed semi-detached home at the end of a quiet, tree-lined cul-de-sac in the Dublin city suburb of Rathgar.
“It’s got that big south-facing back garden, and it’s very private and very quiet. When you sit outside on a summer’s day, you can hear the whoosh of the Luas going by, and that’s a couple of kilometres away. You can walk into town, but you also feel like you’re well outside town.”
The house, with a D2 Ber, backs on to the vast grounds of St Luke’s Hospital, which adds to the sense of quietude.
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“It’s a big campus with a lot of woodland, lovely grounds. We often go for walks there with our kids.”
His parents bought the 1930s house in 1988, and when they refurbished it in 2012 they were keen to keep many of the original features while modernising it for busy family life, says the vendor.
“My dad had a big interest in interior design; he was a television director and one of his programmes was Beyond the Hall Door.”
His mum was a local historian, and she got an 18th-century map of Dublin made into wallpaper, which can be seen in the kitchen/dining area. They also kept the original coving intact, along with the striking wood panelling in the hallway, and even kept some of the mezuzahs – or prayer scrolls – mounted on the doors by the Jewish family who originally owned the house.
Both his mum and dad have died in the last couple of years, and the house is now ready for a new family to enjoy the warmth, light and personality of this well-looked-after home.
Besides being in walk-in condition, with large, mature gardens to the rear and off-street parking to the front, there’s lots of scope for extending, says the vendor. The attic is ripe for conversion, and there’s plenty of back garden space to extend out the back, subject to planning permission. You could even build another room over the garage if permitted.
As it stands, though, you’ve got four good-sized bedrooms in this 150sq m (1,615sq ft) house, one with en suite, a generous living space downstairs, a garage, and a utility room off the kitchen.
The entrance hall features a stained-glass front door, a tiled floor and a guest WC/cloakroom with ample storage. The hall has that distinctive wood panelling and there’s generous under-stairs storage here too.
The diningroom to the front has an open fireplace and bay window, and a sliding door leads to the livingroom, which has a pine mantlepiece with a cast-iron fireplace and a slate hearth, and French doors leading out to the back garden. Both rooms have stained timber floors.
The kitchen has tiled floors, extensive wall and floor units, and iridescent mosaic tiling on the wall. The dining area off the kitchen has wood flooring and that lovely historic map of Dublin on the wall. The utility room is plumbed for a washing machine and has a Velux window and a door to the rear.
Upstairs, two of the bedrooms have stained timber flooring, and the front bedroom has wood flooring. All have fully fitted wardrobes. One of the bedrooms has a built-in desk, so would make an ideal home office or study room for a teenager, and another has an en suite. The main bathroom has a separate WC, and there’s also a walk-in hot-press on this floor.
Rathgar is within easy reach of Dublin city centre, and close to the Cowper Luas stop and several bus routes. There’s a wide selection of shops, cafes, restaurants and bars in the locality, and a number of schools close by, including St Mary’s and Alexandra College.
