Charleston Road is one of Ranelagh's signature thoroughfares, winding a leafy way from Ranelagh village to Belgrave Square. The houses on either side are of mixed ages and styles.
Number 55 is one of the grander types: Edwardian, set well back from the road, a tall house with two storeys over basement. The vendor’s family has lived there for 32 years during which, she says, she “put life and blood into it”.
The house was in three units when the family bought it in 1986. The original features were intact but the house was in need of refurbishment. This has been done, slowly and painstakingly, in the years since – even down to having the front door remade over a three-year period.
All of the sash windows have been restored to their original glory with working shutters, while doors, picture and dado rails, cornicing and, impressively, fireplaces (both marble and cast-iron) in every room are “as they were”. Solid and secure feeling, number 55 has been, the vendor says, “a very happy home and a very safe house”.
Lavish decoration
Number 55 cost IR£80,000-IR£90,000 in 1986, “an awful lot of money at the time”, the vendor recalls. Prices had started to rise at the time; a house on Avoca Avenue, Blackrock, sold for the equivalent of IR£500,000.
Agent DNG is seeking €1.7million for the 262sq m (2820sq ft) four-bed with three reception rooms, a kitchen/breakfast room and wide, long, sheltered rear garden.
A lavish decorating style gives a plush feeling to the front drawing room with its deep bay window and inset seating, marble fireplace and plasterwork. A pleasant study on the hall return has two windows over the garden, cast-iron fireplace and a dado rail. The first of three bathrooms is on this return.
The garden-level kitchen, with Waterford range and large American fridge, will likely be updated by a new owner. One of the bedrooms is on this level, the other three are off the first floor landing.
Next door, number 54 with an asking price of €1.7million has gone sale agreed, while number 52 sold for €1.29 million in September 2017.
