In the late 1990s when she was a young, free and single architect Lucina Lennon bought number 6 Walkers Cottages, an end-of-terrace doer-upper in a small pedestrian cul-de-sac off Mount Pleasant Place in Ranelagh when the Dublin 6 village was still flatland.
She had been looking for a project to put her stamp on and found it in the two-roomed property, possibly once a stable. It measured just 43sq m (470sq ft) but from upstairs had cracking views across Mount Pleasant Avenue to the greens at Leinster Cricket Club and the clock tower in Rathmines.
Her creative eye has reimagined the one-up, one-down house and almost doubled its size to 72sq m (778sq ft).
The arched Gothic-style front door opens directly into the living room and sets the tone for the charming modern country interior that you step down into.
Here a smart granite breast stone forms the base of the modern rustic mantle, a simple timber set-up, with decorative underpinning and floating shelves in the niches on either side of the fireplace. The hearth was made from slate found at her parents’ coach house.
Timber shutters made of salvaged pitch pine keep the large window fuss free and underfoot are French pine boards that wear a graceful, honey-coloured patina. The walls throughout have been rough-plastered to reinforce the country ambiance.
The non-balustraded stairs up to the first floor lead directly from the living room. It makes the room feel quite open but the next owner could fill in this space to create a greater divide between the two floors.
There is a decent-sized, eat-in kitchen to the rear that can be closed off by shutting a barn-like door set on a track. The kitchen has black slate countertops, the same slate as on the hearth, and is cleverly lit from above by double-height roof lights in the room above, the one Lennon, who is also a textile artist, used as her studio. She has now relocated to nearby Church Lane. The back door, a half door, opens out to a small space that just might fit the trio of wheelie bins most households in the area use.
Upstairs, Lennon’s studio has light on three sides with a door leading out to a tiny but beautifully orientated balcony. Facing southwest you can see across to the Leinster Cricket Club greens and the Rathmines clock tower. The room currently has no door from the landing, something buyers will want to change if is to be used as a bedroom.
Across the small landing is a good size double that is wardrobe-free. Adjoining it is a second, single, room. If you turned the studio into the master bedroom you would have a home with two good size bedrooms and could install a second bathroom upstairs in the single room connecting them via a walk-through wardrobe. The family bathroom is Victorian-inspired and has a small, clawfoot bath set on a raised dias and a cistern above the wc.
Parking outside is tight but there is residents’ disc parking on nearby Swan Grove.
The property is asking €535,000 through O’Regan Consulting.
