One way those living around Serpentine Avenue in Ballsbridge in Dublin 4 are likely to meet their neighbours is by bumping into them while waiting for a train to pass at the road’s level crossing. On a bright September morning, the small, gathered crowd consists of young parents with prams and a few people walking their dogs to and from the Orange Goat cafe, with dachshunds seeming to be the more popular companion.
The road of railway cottages sits facing the rail line with a mix of old stone cottages and more contemporary builds. Number 17 falls into the contemporary category and is one of six three-bed semidetached houses built on the road around 2007. The property was fully refurbished to a modern standard, with an A3 Ber, by its current owners when they bought it in 2023 for €985,000 according to the Property Price Register. It features air conditioning in most rooms. It is now on the market once again seeking €1.15 million through Sherry FitzGerald.
It benefits from being set well back from the street and the rail line, preventing much noise disturbance. The owners had high electric gates fitted, beyond which is a long driveway up to the main door, with space for two cars, and a three-tiered southwest-facing garden on the left, set out with loose stones on the top level, a lawn and flower bed in the middle and a decked patio at basement level.
Inside, the entrance hallway is double height with porcelain wood-effect parquet flooring which continues throughout the ground floor. There is light from French doors at the opposite end of the hallway, which lead out to a small rear patio and a side lane that links it to the front drive.
Rate of home mortgages over 90 days in arrears falls to lowest in 15 years
Greystar buys Dublin student housing scheme for around €150m
Typical price paid for home by first-time buyer up €88,000 on five years ago
Housing in Ireland is among the most expensive and most affordable in the EU. How does that happen?
The large, open-plan kitchen-living space is accessed from the rear of the hallway. The livingroom faces out to the tiered garden and features a built-in media unit with a trendy wood panelling effect and an inset solid-fuel stove. Meanwhile, the kitchen units are sage green with silver accents, and the splashback and counters have a white marble finish.
The principal bedroom occupies the first floor with extensive inbuilt storage in dark-green wood, consisting of wardrobes, drawers and a vanity table. The accompanying bathroom is very big with a free-standing bath, double sinks and a double shower – yes, that means two rainfall shower heads within one big shower.
A flight of stairs down from the ground floor leads to a basement level, where there are two further bedrooms, each of which have French doors out to the wooden deck to the front. The second bedroom also has a large en suite shower room and there is also a utility room on this floor.
[ Light-filled Grand Canal Dock penthouse with wraparound Liffey views for €1.1mOpens in new window ]
Although named 17 Railway Cottages, this turnkey, 193sq m (2,077sq ft) home is far from a period cottage and is likely to suit someone working nearby at Grand Canal Dock or in Dublin city centre who is looking for a house requiring no modernisation. The Aviva Stadium is visible at the top of the street and from the property, and it is just a five-minute walk from Lansdowne Road Dart station.
