Houses along Valentia Road in Drumcondra dating from the 1930s were originally built for high-ranking civil servants by the Civil Service Housing Association, and are spacious homes with very generous gardens.
Number 19 was upgraded and extended in 2003, and is now three times its original size extending to 330sq m (3,552sq ft), with an additional 20sq m (215sq ft) in the converted attic, bringing the total floor space to 350sq m.
The road is one of the most sought after in Drumcondra, as recent sales indicate. Number 11, which is a smaller property sold for €1.35 million in 2014; number 33 smaller again, and in need of total refurbishment sold in 2019 for €895,000 and around the corner 33 Beresford Green, a new five-bed property went for €1.65 million in 2018.
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The extension to number 19 added a sunken livingroom – where the current owners’ seat 45 each year for Christmas – a spacious kitchen and separate diningroom set in a glazed atrium, in addition to a principal bedroom suite on the first floor.
Despite the size of the extension, the garden – with two patios – still extends to more than 33m, and this is one of the factors that helps tick quite a few boxes for house hunters in the area.
Some lovely additions were added to the design of the extension, in the form of salvage, such as the old red bricks, which line the rear livingroom and garden walls. These came from McKee Barracks, and the three sandstone and marble Gothic archways that lead to the kitchen came from St Peter’s Church in Phibsborough.
Concertina
There is a great sense of space and light throughout the property, mainly due to the aspect and Marvin windows and glazed doors – which open in concertina style – allowing the entire house to open into the garden in good weather. The cost alone for the doors and windows was about €45,000 when they were installed 16 years ago.
The garden level has a very large diningroom, the extension and the garage has been retrofitted as a further room, with lots of storage and an additional bathroom.
Upstairs are four spacious bedrooms, with the large attic room now used as a fifth.
Besides the location, size and unusual reclaimed features, it is the rear garden that will attract families to this property. It served as a fine sports pitch for the owners, the giveaway being the old goalposts to the rear, but it has significant potential for green-fingered enthusiasts to develop it further.
Last year architect Dermot Bannon purchased a house a few doors down, which is undergoing serious renovation.
Number 19, in turnkey condition, is for sale through Sherry FitzGerald seeking €1.75 million.
