Perfectly nice from the outside, San Fionbarra has plenty of room to improve. While that might imply it's less than lovely inside, it's more a question of new buyers, as the current owner Ivor Moloney says, wanting to take the house to the next level.
Moloney and his wife Ruth have lived there for 35 years, happily raising their five children, but today’s families have a penchant for en suites, and kids are less happy to share rooms as they grow up than they were a generation ago.
Fashions in kitchens have changed too, and the older-style separation of kitchen and dining room has given way to the convenience of eating and cooking in the same, or adjacent spaces: currently at San Fionbarra, the dining room is across the hall from the kitchen, though there is also a breakfast room alongside.
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Potential buyers can take a leaf out of the neighbours’ books for inspiration. San Fionbarra was built in the 1920s as one of a trio of detached houses on the quiet south side of elegant Crosthwaite Park. Each has a large garden – 110ft long and south facing – and the neighbours to one side have more than doubled their footprint of with a contemporary extension.
Peace and quiet
Currently, the house has just over 180 sq m (1,939 sq ft) of accommodation. Downstairs there is the kitchen/ breakfastroom, diningroom, family room and a roomy and warm (even on a frosty day) sun room, which Ruth describes as "the delight of my life".
There are also a converted bedroom, utility room and garage at this level; while upstairs there are three further bedrooms, a study and a family bathroom. There is gated off-street parking to the front.
The atmosphere is very that of a much-loved family home, and Ruth and Ivor revel in the peace and quiet the situation gives them. “I looked out one day and couldn’t work it out, then I realised there were two foxes, asleep, curled up on the back lawn,” Ivor recalls.
It's a short walk to the People's Park in Dún Laoghaire, with its lively Sunday market, and on to the seafront. The Dart and handy bus routes are also within walking distance.
For sale with Savills for €1.225 million, San Fionbarra offers location, location, location as well as the peace of a beautifully maintained secluded back garden. How much of that new owners want to sacrifice to get extra living space is up to them, though Ivor ruefully notes that the garden may be absolutely gorgeous, but one of this size is no picnic to keep up.
