The early suburbanisation of the countryside close to Dublin city is on beautiful show in the gracious Georgian buildings of Mount Pleasant Square in Ranelagh, where development in the environs of the Swan river began in the late 18th century and continued, terrace by terrace, until the west side was completed by about 1830.
Houses on the square do not come for sale very often but Number 26, which is on that side – parallel to and farthest from Ranelagh Road – has come back to the market, having sold in 2018; it is asking €1.5 million through Quillsen.
The previous owners, who set up the Fallon & Byrne food business, had lived in it with their family for 20 years and during that time they extended the accommodation to 200 sq m (2,153 sq ft) and converted the attic.
The current owners have rented the house out, and though it is partially staged for the sale its warmth and character are evident.
The cool grey door is topped by a delicate fanlight, and opens into a tall, bright hall with a ceiling rose high above. Wide planks floor the hall and continue into the reception rooms on the left, where the unfussy cornicing sets off the sandstone fireplaces that were sourced by the previous owners. These rooms can be closed off or connected by folding doors, and storage is built into the recesses.
The room at the rear also opens to the hall through a door at the other side of a glass-topped arch, and the landing at this level marks the change in character as you go upstairs on a vivid mustard carpet or down a level, past a guest toilet, to the less formal living area.
This is all floored in a creamy terrazzo that links the space from the window and door at the front to the French doors that open to the back garden.
There’s a stove at the living room end, as well as long banks of built-in units – ideal for coats, bags and family clutter – that match the kitchen cupboards. These are really well laid out, with ageless plywood carcasses; new owners will need only to freshen the doors by painting over a few years of wear and tear. The terrazzo continues to great effect in open shelving, and the countertops at the side and on the central island are a greyish white marble.
Beyond the kitchen, which is fitted with De Dietrich ovens and a huge gas-topped range cooker, is the dining area. This was added by the previous owners and is brightened by a long lightwell where the new extension meets the original building; the glass doors also bring in light from the south-west.
The garden is shorter than some of the neighbouring plots but it’s very nicely thought out. There’s a good-sized patio outside the dining room, and two sets of steps, with planters built into the sides, lead up to sunny gravelled and paved areas.
Old rainwater goods have been reused as planters and these, along with the redbrick incorporated into one of the terraces, reflect the blend of old and new inside the house.
From the hall, the stairs, with simple spindles, lead up to a second smart bathroom, with painted floorboards and a window looking southwards along Mount Pleasant Avenue.
Off the first-floor landing are two big double bedrooms, one at the back looking out to the garden, to the façade of Corrigan’s pub with the redbrick date-stamped 1910, and beyond to the dome of Rathmines church.
The front room has a black cast-iron fireplace, built-in wardrobes and, like all three bedrooms, working shutters and old-style radiators. This and the smaller bedroom beside it have views across the square, much of it taken up with the long-established tennis club which is screened by a thicket of trees and entered from the south side.
At the top of the house, you could call the converted attic dual aspect, for it has one rooflight at the front and two at the rear, flooding the large space with light and giving glimpses of the mountains. There is a small internal shower room under the eaves. As a protected structure, the house is Ber-exempt.
A curve in the railings a few houses along, across from an original entrance to the square, was a turning area for carriages. Nowadays, that entrance is pedestrianised and car parking is on the street; the square is close to two Luas stops and every Ranelagh amenity is within close range.
