The butchers in Lawlor’s of Upper Rathmines say people travel from all over to buy their products; in fact you can get just about everything in that run of shops that include Fothergills deli and long-established veg and fish shops, as well as a tiny Tesco, but keep a hand free to eat your 99 from the grocer’s hatch on the way home.
The new owner of number 213 Rathmines Road Upper will have to carry their shopping only 100m up the street, and once they walk through the clematis-clad arbour, up the quarry-tiled path and through the pretty parterre, they will close the door on the busy thoroughfare and enter a cocoon of calm.
Like all the houses on this stretch of the road – a nameplate next door identifies it as Fitzwilliam Terrace, built in 1905 – number 213, a four-bed of 168sq m (1,808sq ft) has beautiful Art Nouveau stained glass in the front door and two bay windows. There’s a second layer of glass at the back of the door for protection and insulation; this latter feature, adding cosiness and subtracting traffic noise, is a hallmark of the major work the current owner undertook after buying the house for €560,000 in 2012, according to the Property Price Register.
The 2013 project also included replumbing, rewiring, reroofing, replacing the windows and overhauling the heating; for such an old house, with open fireplaces in every room, the Ber is an impressive C1.
Ceiling heights – upstairs as well as down – are 10ft and the hall is crowned by fine coffers and fancy cornicing, roses and an arch. By contrast, the two interconnected reception rooms to the right have plain marble mantels and decoration is confined to the large centrepieces. The tiles in the fireplaces here, as upstairs, shine out of their white surrounds.
Dark walnut planks floor this level, leading down four steps and past a guest toilet to the extended kitchen. The owner has refreshed the property regularly, so the walls are pale throughout and the bespoke kitchen units were recently commissioned from a joiner. Topped with white quartz, they contrast well with a rustic wooden dining table and the island invites guests to perch and chat. A stove sits in an exposed-brick surround, a utility cupboard takes up no space in a corner, and the eye is drawn to the garden through new French doors.
It’s here that the owner’s thinking becomes obvious, stitching the entire polished interior together from the glazing bars on the garden doors through the trim of the kitchen rooflights and the internal window to the rear reception room. They are a very smart charcoal, toned to match the front door and all the window frames. This uniformity, like the white paint, grey stairs carpet, plantation shutters and wooden bedroom floors, enhances the feeling of relaxed spaciousness throughout.
Even in the back garden, where varied trees and shrubs give interest to the side walls, it’s evident that the owner has woven a thread from the front. A yellow-brick path picks up the buff bricks used in the extension and the cream of the slabs on the west-facing patio. It’s a very private space, with pedestrian access to one of the well-kept lanes that criss-cross the avenues off Highfield Road. At the front, behind the railing and the discreet bin store, herringbone-set red bricks define the formal garden.
Upstairs there are four bedrooms: the largest, to the front, has the bay window and beside this is a single room, with the loveliest fireplace, that could work as a study. Another large double at the back has an internal en suite and a wall of wardrobes, and a smaller double lies to the rear beside the smart, newly fitted shower room.
Up a seamless extension of the staircase there is a very bright and decent-sized attic room of 23sq m suited to a variety of uses, and with lots of storage.
This part of Rathmines is also close to Rathgar, as well as a short distance from town, and is handy for many schools and sports clubs, with Palmerston Park around the corner and the Dodder just down the hill. The Luas at Cowper is 10 minutes’ walk and the 140 bus, whose regularity is helped by the students living at nearby Trinity Hall, stops across the road from number 213. The house is for sale through Sherry FitzGerald with an asking price of €1.85 million.
