City-dwellers will love this house. So will downsizers in search of a peaceful garden. Number 42 Baggot Lane has appeal for many but, primarily, its location just off Baggot Street makes life a stroll: a stroll to parks and the city centre, to schools, shopping, public transport, Grand Canal walks and more.
Baggot Lane is also a popular location for custom-built, contemporary homes; Bespoke Estate Agents is seeking €895,000 for number 42. The smaller number 38 sold in February this year for €602,000, number 106 sold for €650,000 in 2016.
There is a fine sense of space in and about number 42’s 103sq m (1,109sq ft) floor area. Designed by Steven Byrne Architects in 1994, the current owner/vendor has been living there for 15 years. Some might remember the site as the long-time location of Tyrell’s grocery, which closed in the late 1960s.
Although behind high gates and walls, a front pebbled walk/driveway allows light into the front rooms. A large, southwest-facing rear garden adds a whole other dimension to the rest of the house. Sheltered and private, the garden has a row of six, tall, sentinel evergreens, low-maintenance decking, an ivy-clad wall, trellis and a silver birch for elegance. Subject to planning permission number 42 could extend further into the garden, as neighbours have already done.
Singular touches in the interior layout include a split-level sitting/diningroom with Scandinavian pine picture windows overlooking the garden, a quirky armchair wall-niche and handsome stone fireplace. A first-floor mezzanine, with shelving and a gas-fired fireplace, is a reading oasis but could become an integrated, sitting area of the main bedroom. A large picture window on the landing gives light throughout the house.
The fitted, kitchen/diningroom runs alongside the pebbled entrance driveway, from where it can also be separately accessed. A shower room at this, ground-floor level, and en suite bathroom in the main bedroom, have been recently refurbished. The main bedroom has a window over the garden and the second bedroom, on a side return together with a bathroom, has two windows and a bank of mirrored wardrobes.
