Crosthwaite Park is one of those lovely, peaceful squares that are dotted across Dublin like hidden gems. The park was laid out in the mid-1800s by prominent local businessman John Crosthwaite and number 13 was built in 1861 which was, according to the current owner, two years after the window tax was abolished in Ireland. Glass-making techniques were also being perfected, allowing the five-bedroom three-storey over-basement house to have remarkably generous pairs of bay windows on its first two floors.
The house also has a very wide hallway, apparently the widest on the square, giving an expansive sense of space as soon as you set foot inside. The house, for sale with BK Earley for €1.45 million, abounds in original features. There are Carrera marble fireplaces, fabulous plasterwork, cherubs and ceiling roses, working shutters and dark hardwood floors. According to the owner, Crosthwaite put as many of these as possible into the houses on the square to compensate for a lack of sea views. He evidently did a very good job, though Number 13 does need some upgrading and refurbishment.
The kitchen was moved up at some point from its original position at basement level (where you can still see the arch of the original range). It is now to the rear of the first floor, and while it's serviceable, it's unlikely that new owners will want to leave it as is. It's less likely that they'll want to touch the beautiful first-floor drawingroom (apart from fixing the bay windows up a little). This has views across the communal park, and retains a sense of the glorious elegance of the square's early years, when JM Synge was a neighbour – down the road at Number 31.
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In his diaries Synge records breaking off work while writing Riders to the Sea to help a dog who had got his head stuck in the park railings. "You can still see the dent he made in the rescue," the owner says. You can imagine Synge, like any writer, staring out the window, glad of a distraction.
The house has five bedrooms and includes a self-contained garden level flat/office space, and a small outside area to the rear. With 464sq m (5,000sq ft) of accommodation, there’s plenty of room, and room to improve, though the raw material is pretty fantastic already.
