What a difference a decade makes. When the current owners of 80 Frankfort Avenue, a Victorian two-storey-over-basement terraced house in Rathgar, bought it in 2014, they faced a big renovation project. They paid €900,000 for it at the time, according to the Property Price Register.
Back then, the house, built in 1850, had been in the same family since 1927. At first glance, the 250sq m (2,690sq ft) residence, which had ceiling heights of 3.65m at hall level and over 3m at garden level, required serious attention.
The garden level was damp, and the entire property needed to be rewired and replumbed. “It was really run-down,” says builder Brian Moore of Gavin Design & Build.
The property still had many of its original features, which have all been sympathetically restored. Its decorative cornicing is a standout detail. On the entrance hall return there is a large, round window with leaded and coloured glass that refracts on to the party wall, a feature that won the owners over.
The owners turned to Moore to rehabilitate the property. “We like doing these period houses,” he says. “They’re challenging but there’s a sense of accomplishment when you see colour and life breathed back into them.” The project took six months.
Under conservation architect Kevin Blackwood of Blackwood Associates, Moore’s firm excavated the garden level to about 1.5m to give the house a proper core and sub floor. Previously it had compacted soil. This level was also tanked and damp-proofed.
Now, when you enter the house under the granite front steps into the traditional-style kitchen, it radiates warmth from its six-door inky blue Aga. The dark, original hall has been knocked through to open it to the kitchen, so that the room now spans the width of the property.
The rest of this floor comprises a self-contained one-bedroom flat with a light-filled sittingroom overlooking the garden. The next proprietors might look to open this room to the kitchen, but this will require structural work and planning permission as the building is a protected structure, Blackwood says.
The first of the property’s potential five bedrooms is in the dual-aspect return where there is access to the garden.
At hall level the house still has its original front door, restored and repaired by Moore.
The original fold-back doors in the interconnecting rooms were restored and still possess their original door pulls. These match those on the shutters and on the bell pull by the rear fireplace, one of two grey marble designs in the rooms.
The single-glaze windows were restored or replaced throughout by Co Galway-based Geraghty Joinery. “We couldn’t put in curtains,” one of the owners says. “It would interfere with the light.” And the rooms are bright and perfectly proportioned for everyday living.
There’s another lovely dual-aspect room in the return currently set-up as a home office.
Back in the hall, if you look up the stairs to the return you see the property’s most impressive feature, a round window, its curves echoed in double arches below. All bear the fleur de lis motif. Here is where the family bathroom is located. A room made for indulgence, it has a deep, free-standing tub in the centre.
At the top of the house there are three double bedrooms and a shower room. There are views of the mountains from the back room.
The southwest facing garden extends to 30.5m in length and has vehicular rear access. The planting includes a pair of truffle trees, an old pear tree and roses and hydrangea, designed by Murphy & Sheanon.
The roof was replaced with salvaged Bangor slates selected by hand by the architect and the chimneys repaired and repointed.
The Ber-exempt property is seeking €1.975 million through agents Mullery O’Gara.
