Number 32 is a stately home, large in every sense and with early Edwardian design credentials and features adding lustre. On the market for the first time in more than 50 years, via an executors’ sale, it needs modernising but at its core it is solidly reliable, spacious and well laid out and would richly repay any work put into it. The side and rear offer a lot of scope for extending, subject to the usual planning regulations.
St Kevin’s Park is a leafy cul de sac with lush, well-kept gardens and an unhurried air about it. Number 32 has the advantage of a southwest-facing rear garden with a springy lawn that, at noon on a fine day, grabbed every ray of sun to be had. The mature trees of St Luke’s Hospital give shelter to the rear and a long, carriage-style garage along one side has studio/playroom/home office – even garage – possibilities.
The 262sq m (2,825sq ft) floor area is laid out in traditional manner, except for a more recently added conservatory to the rear. It has been in the vendors’ family since 1966 and, on its first market outing in 52 years, agent DNG is seeking €2.5 million.
Off the inner reception hall, the bay-windowed diningroom has a unique and lovely fireplace of ornate, shining brass with a companion brass fireguard. The fire grate, like all the grates in number 32, is wide and large, this clearly being a home where the home fires burned warmly. The bright hallway has the original, plain cornicing and 10ft high ceilings common to most rooms, and Edwardian design.
Interconnecting reception rooms have sliding doors between, a picture rail and, in the front-facing room, an Adams-style fireplace. The rear room has a modern fireplace and sliding-glass door to the rear garden and patio.
There is a sense of the Edwardian in the working kitchen where a clothes horse has been hoisted to meet the high ceiling. The breakfastroom is an addition and leads to the conservatory. A new owner will likely modernise this rear area of the house.
Two bedrooms and a well-fitted bathroom take up the first return. There are two more bedrooms off the light-filled main landing, with the en suite principal bedroom enjoying the considerable benefits of a bay window mirroring that on the ground floor. The fifth bedroom is to the side.
The front is given privacy by high hedging, and a side passage leading to the garage itself offers plenty of parking space.