Mark FitzGerald was just a teenager when his parents, Garret and Joan FitzGerald, moved the family into 30 Palmerston Road, Rathmines, in 1976. At the time, Garret was minister for foreign affairs in a Fine Gael-Labour coalition government led by taoiseach Liam Cosgrave, while Mark was working as a trainee estate agent in Dublin. Garret would go on to lead Fine Gael and serve two terms as taoiseach, while Mark went on to co-found Sherry FitzGerald estate agents and serve as its chief executive and chairman over a long and successful career.
This two-storey-over-basement period home has remained in the FitzGerald family over the past 50 years, with Mark and his wife, Derval – whose late father, former chief justice Tom O’Higgins, worked with Garret FitzGerald as a Fine Gael TD – taking ownership of the house in 1993. Mark recalls a lively house in the 1980s, with his parents entertaining such high-profile guests as John Hume and Bono and Ali Hewson, but he also recalls tense times as his father grappled with economic crises and Northern Ireland, and was part of the negotiations that led to the 1985 Anglo-Irish Agreement.
In the hallway of number 30 is a humorous sketch by Jack B Yeats, which the artist drew for his friend Mabel FitzGerald, Mark’s grandmother. And in the small study on the hall-floor level is an old Fine Gael election campaign poster featuring Garret, while in the reading alcove just inside the front door are bookshelves containing Mark’s antique cloth-bound copies of Thom’s Directory. These contain exhaustive details of every street in Dublin and who lived there at the time, and may have sowed the seeds for Mark’s interest in selling property.
Over the years number 30 has had numerous renovations, most recently in 2022, to keep it up to speed with contemporary living while retaining its elegant Victorian character. “We’ve had about six kitchens,” says Derval. There’s also a two-storey extension to the side that blends neatly with the original redbrick facade, and which also houses a lift, recently upgraded.
When it was bought by his parents 50 years ago, number 30 didn’t have central heating, says Mark. Now it has everything a family needs for luxurious living close to Dublin city centre, with little for new owners to do but move in and add their own history to the house.
Number 30 Palmerston Road, built in 1879 by John Regan, measures 362sq m (3,900sq ft) and is Ber-exempt. It is for sale through Sherry FitzGerald, seeking €3.75 million.
To the front of the house is a mature garden with gravelled parking for up to four cars, and a long flight of granite steps leading up to the front door. The entrance hallway, elegant drawingroom to the front and formal diningroom to the back all have polished timber floors, ceiling coving, picture rails and centre roses, while the livingroom and diningroom feature fireplaces with matching white marble mantelpieces.
Off the hall is a bright reading alcove, a guest WC and a fifth bedroom, which is in use as a study. On the first-floor return is a feature stained-glass sash window overlooking the back garden, and the fourth bedroom, a double room with sash window overlooking the back garden.
The main bedroom has two sash windows looking out to the front, with a picture rail, fitted wardrobe and cast-iron mantelpiece. Adjoining it is a large en-suite bathroom. There is also a walk-in dressingroom with shelving, hanging space and drawers, and a Velux window to bring in light.
Bedroom two is a double with a sash window looking out to the back, built-in wardrobe and shelving, and recessed lights, with an en suite shower room with tiled floor, part-panelled walls and a shower with metro tiles. Also on this floor is a family shower room, and a laundry room with a sash and Velux window, plumbed for two washing machines and a tumble dryer.
Bedroom three, a double, is on the second-floor return, and has a part-pitched ceiling, built-in wardrobe and desk with recessed lights, two windows overlooking the back garden and a Velux window. There’s also a storage press and a hatch to the attic on the return.
The garden level has its own entrance hallway with sash window and hardwood flooring, plus a cloakroom, understairs storage and a door out to the back garden. To the right of the hallway is a large pantry with a tiled floor, an integrated fridge-freezer, a wine cooler and a large walk-in larder with ample storage and shelving. Farther back is a shower room with a tiled floor, and a storage room with hardwood floors. To the left of the hall is a large kitchen/breakfastroom with solid wood flooring and two sets of folding glazed doors, leading out to the back garden and patio. This room is tastefully designed with a bespoke contemporary kitchen by Derek Heaney of the Cabinet Company, featuring Corian countertops and soft-close deep cupboards.
To the front is a large family room with sash windows, hardwood floors and a feature fireplace with raised grate. A long counter separates the family room from the kitchen/breakfastroom, creating an open-plan feel while allowing for both rooms to work independently.
The private, west-facing back garden catches much of the daytime sun, and has a great outdoor sandstone patio area sheltered by an electronic awning, and kept warm by two overhead heaters. The manicured back lawn is surrounded by mature, well-stocked borders featuring a variety of flowering plants, trees and shrubs. There’s a convenient gate to the laneway at the side, and there are two handy storage sheds, one accessed from the side laneway, and the other under the granite steps to the front.
