The entrance hallway of 7 Newbridge Avenue has a locked-in-time feel to it, in the best possible way. The owners so appreciated No 7’s Victorian features that they made them part of the decor. For example, the hallway, with its deep halfway arch, flocked wallpaper, dado rail and view of a leaded glass window on the stair return, brings you right back to the house’s origins.
Thomas and Marie Grant were early occupants of No 7; they moved in with their five children in 1890 and lived there for 10 years. In 1904, a "splendid house" two doors down was offered for rent at £60 per year.
That was then. The vendors’ parents bought in 1957, paid about £2,000 and reared a happy, lively family of five children there.
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Though an executor’s sale, No 7 continues to be lived in. Siblings Judy and Dick grew up in the house and remember the freedom of “playing skipping and other games on the road”, the joys of the rear garden, “great parties”, and their parents reverence for the original features.
No 7 has a floor space of 164sq m (1,761sq ft), with three bedrooms, two receptions, kitchenette and breakfast room.
Original glass
A pair of traditional ground floor reception rooms off the hall floor have 13ft-high ceilings, working shutters on sash windows (all of the rear windows are original, including the glass), picture rails, double doors and fine views of a venerable pear tree in the rear garden.
The kitchen and breakfastroom on this level need to be modernised – Judy marvels at how her mother cooked for five growing children in the galley kitchen.
The main, front-facing bedroom has a fine marble fireplace, long windows, built-in wardrobes and a shared shower room with a second, rear bedroom. Two other bedrooms and a family bathroom are on the return.
The garden has a long bed of old roses along a granite wall, as well as trees and shrubs. The two block-built garages with mews planning permission are at the end, together with rear vehicular access.
Savills is asking €1.35 million for both No 7 and an 88sq m (176sq ft) mews site with full planning permission for a three-bed dwelling to the rear.
