Dignified, welcoming, in a quiet laneway and with the venerable St Matthew’s Church (dating from 1704) just behind, 37 Bath Street truly belongs in its location. Built in the late 1800s, when half the population of Irishtown lived in or near Bath Street, number 37 has seen seismic changes in this part of town and been a constant home to owners from the neighbourhood’s changing demographic.

In pristine, ready-to-walk in condition, it would make a lovely first home in today’s market.

The vendor succumbed to the spell of number 37’s “energy and quirkiness” when she first saw it. In the years since it has proven “a fabulous place to live; I’ve really enjoyed being here”. She’s selling, not without regret but “because its time to move on” after putting a considerable amount of her own energy into creating a home that is bright, light and very easy to live in.

She bought in 2004, from agent Sherry FitzGerald for €375,000. It was, she says, more than  "liveable" at the time but she put her own stamp on things regardless, replacing the bathroom with a "decent" shower room, installing a new kitchen, Travertine tiled floors, turning a second bedroom into a sitting room, hanging (very effective)plantation shutters and using rich cream and white paint everywhere.

Enclosed patio

Agent Sherry FitzGerald is again looking after the sale, this time asking €395,000 for the 57sq m (614sq ft) house with two reception rooms, kitchen, shower room, bedroom and small, enclosed patio/yard.

Original, functioning cast-iron fireplaces in the dining and sitting-rooms are there since Bath Street was named after the baths which lined Irishtown strand in the 1700s. The front door opens into the dining room where there is a pale, Travertine tiled floor and cream painted, tongue-and-groove ceiling. The vaulted kitchen is to one side of this, a comfortable sittingroom to the other. Windows everywhere give plenty of light; the kitchen has an ornate porthole with white and blue glass. Here also is a Belfast sink, a tumbled marble splashback, tiled work surfaces and a window over the enclosed patio/yard. A glass swing door leads to an inner hall and on to an Italian-tiled shower room with underfloor heating, Velux window and heated towel rail.

The good-sized bedroom takes up the entire first floor. A bright, high-ceilinged space with Velux and front-facing windows, it has a mirrored wardrobe and small fireplace whose chimney needs reinstating to return it to practical use. The useful patio/yard has a door on to the street.