The major work on 14 Mountpleasant Avenue Lower was undertaken by previous owners Barry and Fiona Doyle, who bought the end-of-terrace period Ranelagh house in 2015. Then it was in poor condition and divided into five flats – they paid €640,000 – and the purchase was a canny flip; just a year later the extended and sympathetically renovated four-bed family home was back on the market asking €1.25 million. It was then bought as an investment – and has been a rental since – with those buyers now selling up, placing the redbrick on the market with Sherry FitzGerald, again asking €1.25 million.
Doyle wasn’t in the least bit fazed by the work – his family firm is BRD Construction – so he was well used to renovating period homes. Number 14 was stripped back to its bare bones – after planning permission, it is a protected structure – and essentially rebuilt. In 2016 Barry said of the build: “We replaced every timber in the house, extended out the back, extended upstairs, reinstated cornicing...”
While many period features were either reinstated or refurbished, the floor at ground level, including the hall and interconnecting reception rooms, was replaced entirely with Burmese teak parquet, buffed to an impressive shine. On the way to the eat-in kitchen in the rear extension is a small, rather forlorn looking inner courtyard opening out to Bannaville – the benefits of an end-of-terrace house – and it ensures the extension did not rob light from the rear reception room, as is so often the case. The kitchen/living space is an immediately appealing room; it has been fitted with a sleek German Nobilia kitchen in a dove grey and there’s a wall of windows on to the garden, as well as plenty of space for a large seating area and a good-sized dining table.
Upstairs the main bedroom is in the return and it has an en suite shower room and a walk-in wardrobe. On up again are three more bedrooms: two small doubles to the front and a single to the rear. This room would probably have worked better as a good-sized family bathroom as these bedrooms share a small showerroom.
The house is spread over 174sq m (1,873sq ft) and it is smartly presented, having been staged for the sale, and feels in walk-in condition. In these times when many buyers consider working from home possibilities when looking at a property, number 14 comes with a considerable plus – a double garage, measuring 9.89m by 3.24m, opening out to Bannaville. Glazed patio doors open into it from the back garden so the potential to turn it into an entirely separate home office is immediately clear. On the other hand, parking is tight around here so off-street parking in a garage is highly desirable.
