“It‘s like stepping into a Jane Austen novel,” says Annemarie Murphy of Knight Frank, the selling agents for number 2 Harcourt Terrace, a semidetached Regency home on a prestigious terrace linking Adelaide Road with the Grand Canal. We’re standing in the beautifully appointed drawingroom, and it certainly feels like being on the set of a period drama, with every interior detail meticulously recreated to conjure up an elegant age long gone. If Keira Knightley and Matthew Macfadyen walked into the room in full Elizabeth Bennet and Mr Darcy regalia, we probably wouldn’t bat an eyelid.
The owners of number 2 completely refurbished the house when they bought it 30 years ago, restoring the floors, walls, windows, fireplaces, cornicing and centre roses to their former glory, but also going one step further by sourcing beautiful antique furniture for the bedrooms, bathrooms and reception rooms, and using rich, gorgeous fabrics for the window, wall and floor coverings.
The owner has a great passion for fabrics and furnishings, and many of the period pieces were sourced from France and Italy, adding a classic continental style to the house. What looks like antique wallpaper in some rooms is actually intricate paintwork that beautifully replicates the Regency period. It‘s a stunning home that looks old but feels fresh and new; when you step back outside, you might need a moment to reorient yourself to the modern world.
Harcourt Terrace was built in about the 1830s by Charles Jasper Joly, and named after the first Earl Harcourt, who was viceroy of Ireland during the 1770s. It‘s acknowledged as Dublin‘s finest surviving group of Regency houses. Over the years the terrace became known as a creatives’ quarter; actors Micheál Mac Liammóir and Hilton Edwards lived at number 4, and number 11 was where the artist Sarah Purser had her studio.
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The owners of number 2 did further refurbishment in 2017, and also extended the property, adding a fabulous sunroom designed by Trombé, with retractable glass roof and full-height glass doors out to the southwest-facing back garden. Number 2 Harcourt Terrace is laid out over four floors, with four bedrooms, measures 365sq m (3,928sq ft) and is Ber-exempt. It‘s for sale through Knight Frank, seeking €4 million.
The entrance hall, with its impressive oval cupola, intricately painted walls and cornices and ceramic tiled floor, makes for a great overture to this classical home. You step past a handy service kitchen/utility room and into the inner hall, which leads into the large drawingroom to the front, with two large sash windows overlooking the quiet of Harcourt Terrace, and the adjoining diningroom looking out to the back garden. Both these rooms have reclaimed wide-plank hardwood floors, feature marble fireplaces, original cornicing and centre roses, and working shutters on the windows. On the ground floor return is a cosy family room, recently redecorated, with a small balcony overlooking the back garden, a coal-effect gas fire and lots of sun streaming in from the south and west.
On the first-floor return is a real time warp – a bathroom with a bath encased in antique wood with antique taps, and a Victorian shower with antique taps and pipes. The owner sourced many of the fixtures and fittings from architectural salvage companies.
At garden level is a kitchen/diningroom fitted with bespoke stainless steel units by Abimis. These give a clean, sleek appearance to the kitchen, contrasting nicely with the large gas Aga and maple parquet flooring. The kitchen opens out to the stunning sunroom extension, which the owner uses a lot for entertaining. Also on this level is a pantry, a guest loo and a wine cellar that maintains a cool temperature in the depths of the house.
The main bedroom, on the first floor, is beautifully decorated, with two large sash windows, feature fireplace, rich fabrics and wall and floor coverings in understated golds and blues. Bedroom two is in use as a large dressingroom for the main bedroom; it‘s also plumbed for an en suite should new owners want to add that.
There are two more large bedrooms on the second floor, both luxuriously appointed, along with a shower room.
The back garden has tiered landscaping with seating areas, a barbecue area with overhead canopy and a large goldfish pond. To the back is a shed and a car garage, and there is right-of-way access to bring in your car or motorbike. Out front is a railed front garden laid in artificial grass bounded with box hedging. There’s off-street parking here for one car.
A set of steps lead down from the front garden to a large study at garden level, which would make a perfect home office or studio with its own front entrance. Cleverly layered ivy conceals the steps from view, providing privacy while you work.
Harcourt Terrace is a 10-minute walk from St Stephen’s Green, and is close to the villages of Ranelagh and Portobello. With its central location and superb condition, number 2 will appeal to anyone looking for a prestigious home with a strong sense of the past within a stone’s throw of the city centre. It‘s also near schools, including the newly built Educate Together at the canal end of the terrace, St Conleth’s, St Michael’s and Loreto.
