An Edwardian house in Rathgar has seen a lot of action since its owners bought it in 1994: 16 years ago they extended the kitchen to create a large kitchen/dining/family room opening onto the back garden and since then that space has been the hub of the house.
With four children and five grandchildren, their home was a venue for First Communion, engagement and christening parties, a welcoming house for their teenage children’s friends and a space for grandchildren to play.
The couple also created a cinema room in the attic, with a few tiered seats and surround sound. It’s where one of the owners now goes “to listen to music and watch my Mafia movies” and where family gathers to watch rugby. But although it’s been a lively family home, the pictures of 65 Highfield Road, Rathgar, Dublin 6 show a smart, well-maintained and richly decorated modern house.
Now the double-fronted detached 320sq m (3,444sq ft) five bed is for sale through Sherry FitzGerald seeking €2.395 million. Located on the corner of Highfield Road and Templemore Road, it has a large well-landscaped rear garden behind a stone and redbrick wall – and potential to build a mews house at its end. The owners had previously obtained planning permission, now lapsed, to do so.
Number 65 is a protected Edwardian built around 1908 by Thomas Stringer, who built many of the Highfield Road redbricks for Dublin’s emerging middle class. The houses are laid out over two floors as there was no longer a need for basement servant quarters, and they originally included a series of small rooms including kitchen, pantry and store out the back for the housekeeper.
Double front doors with stained-glass panels open into a tiled entrance hall. A living room on the left has panelled walls, a timber fireplace and a large box bay window.
Doors on the right open into interconnecting reception rooms: the drawing room at the front has a bay window, cornicing and a stone fireplace. Sliding doors open into a formal dining room with deep red walls and a mahogany fireplace. French doors from here open into a sunroom with a tiled floor.
There are doors from both the front hall and sunroom into the large open-plan kitchen/dining/family room: it has a Newcastle Design kitchen, a tiled floor, polished granite countertops and island unit, large seating area and a recessed fireplace. Double glazed doors open from here into the back garden. A utility room opens off the kitchen.
Upstairs, there are five bedrooms, one a bedroom fitted out as a study on the second return at the top of the house, beside the cinema/attic room.
The main bedroom has a bay window overlooking the front, built-in wardrobes and an en suite shower room. The family bathroom has a walk-in steam shower with overhead and wall-mounted jets.
The back garden was landscaped 14 years ago: beyond a granite patio is a long lawn bordered by mature trees and shrubs and a pond with a water feature.
A gravel path beside the lawn leads to a brick garage/den beside a part-covered carport. Double gates open from here onto Templemore Avenue, and this is the space with potential for a mews house. There is also lots of room to park in the gravelled front garden, with side access from Templemore Avenue.
