“I have never lived in a place with a better community,” says the owner of 73 Richmond Park in Monkstown. Built around Richmond Park House, a Victorian mansion, in the late 1980s, he says one of the small estate’s defining characteristics is its layout in a series of cul de sacs, which enables neighbours to have passing chats or to sit on the many benches out the front, as well as holding social barbecues and seasonal clean-up and planting days.
So strong is its sense of identity, says the owner, who has lived here for 16 years, that Richmond Park is a multiple winner of its Tidy Towns category.
Number 73, an extended end-of-terrace two-bed house of 91sq m (980sq ft), is in walk-in condition, has been freshly painted and uses every inch of space, from the converted attic to the understairs storage.
A small front porch opens into the wide bright livingroom with an open fireplace, built-in bookshelves, a neat vertical radiator and a door to the kitchen/diningroom, which was built in 2012.
A wood laminate floor extends throughout the downstairs, with tiles in the working area of the kitchen and a feature brick wall. The units are a vibrant, glossy red and the worktops are polished marble, with a peninsula unit and integrated appliances. This room is lit by two big windows looking out to the rear patio garden, with French doors to the side and two Velux windows overhead.
There is a shower room under the stairs, which rise through the centre of the house, and another on the upstairs landing between the two bedrooms, one of which is fitted with Sliderobes. A second set of stairs gives access to the attic room, which has views across the bay from Velux windows.
Outside, the sheltered garden faces north but the patio gets sun from early March to mid-November and the eight-seater table is in regular use, according to the owner. The shed was custom-built in 2014, and there is side access. At the front, it’s one of only a few houses that have two parking spaces; this is handy for accessing its electric car-charging point. The Ber is C3.
There’s always a game of football on one of the greens in the estate, but for more organised activities Richmond Park is close to a variety of clubs including tennis, rugby, GAA and sailing.
Schools within walking and cycling distance include Scoil Lorcáin, CBC, Newpark, Oatlands and Blackrock College. Monkstown village has benefited from traffic calming measures and has a wide variety of shops and cafes including Diarmuid Gavin’s Outer Spaces, Searson’s wine merchants and George’s fish shop. The village is on lots of bus routes, including the Aircoach, the Dart station is a seven-minute walk from the house, and the Blackrock to Sandycove cycle path is close by at Seapoint Avenue.
The owner swims in the sea almost daily and walks to the end of the west pier in Dún Laoghaire and back within an hour. “I couldn’t ask for a better, safer place to raise a family,” he says.
Recent sales noted on the Property Price Register include number 19, a detached three-bed, for €725,000; number 16 sold last October for €575,000 and number 57 in July for €650,000.
Number 73 is now on the market through Sherry FitzGerald with an asking price of €645,000.
