This two-bed end-terrace Victorian home, built in the 1870s, has been in the same family for decades, with various family members living here over the years, as well as it being rented out. The current owner lived here with her husband in the 1990s, and they renovated entirely, installing a kitchen and bathrooms. The most recent renovation saw the house being pretty much gutted, the downstairs floor was levelled and the property was rewired and brought completely up to date with new fire doors and double-glazed windows.
In its owner’s words, it’s a bijou artisan cottage, but it still provides plenty of accommodation at 86sq m (926sq ft). The house faces west, so the garden to the front of the property gets good sun and a small cafe set reflects how often the owners tend to sit outside. Original features such as an old boot scraper and the granite door lintel are still in situ, but once inside the front door, it feels completely fresh and new.
Two doors open up from a small porch. The room on the right is laid out as a diningroom but could make a perfect home office. A large sittingroom opposite has a cast-iron fireplace that is decorative only, as the chimney is sealed. Handsome built-in shelving, custom-made, flank either side of the fireplace, painted a vivid green which adds a welcome pop of colour to the room.
A well-fitted-out utility space with base and top units and plumbed for a washing machine gives way to a narrow shower room, cleverly tucked in behind it. It would be more than feasible to have the diningroom as a small bedroom with the shower room at this level.
To the back of the house is the kitchen in an extension to the house that was built in the 1970s. Completely updated over the years, it has had a new worktop fitted, and has a large stainless-steel splashback behind the four-ring gas gob. Terracotta floors here run out to an atrium with a spiral steel staircase, behind which a door opens into a private courtyard that gets the evening sun and has seen many dinner parties over the years.
A roof light cascades light not only to the staircase but around the first floor, which has a bathroom off the landing as well as a hot press. The heating is gas and the Ber is C1. There are two bedrooms here, both doubles, the smaller room has fitted wardrobes, sloping eaves and overlooks the street.
The second bedroom is the standout room in the house as it’s dual aspect, with possible access to the roof over the extension, subject to adherence to building regulations, new owners could be enjoying sundowners on a rooftop terrace. With its three windows and a pretty cast-iron fireplace, it could be the main living space in the house. It would be intriguing to flip the layout and make this the livingroom.
It’s a house in turnkey condition that is ready to move into or could provide further renovation possibilities. The location is wonderful, across the road from Leinster Cricket Club, around the corner from Mountpleasant Sqaure and its tennis club. Equidistant between Rathmines and Ranelagh, the Luas stop at Ranelagh is a six-minute walk, and parking is on street with residential discs.
Brought to the market by Sherry FitzGerald seeking €775,000, 1A Mountpleasant Avenue Upper would make an ideal home for downsizers or buyers seeking a city-adjacent base in one of Dublin 6’s most attractive areas.
