The market will always be hungry for sensitively refurbished period properties in prime locations. This being so, there will surely be keen interest in 76 Moyne Road, Ranelagh - a pretty late-Victorian terrace house in a quiet but extremely convenient part of Dublin 6. Sherry FitzGerald is quoting a guide price in the region of £350,000 for the three-bedroom property, which is due to be auctioned on December 2nd. A similar house across the road, number 81, fetched £415,000 in September, setting a new price record for the road.
Built soon after the turn-of-the-century, this well-planned house is much more spacious than its modest exterior suggests. It has been carefully restored to create a warm family home with a wealth of period features, including some strikingly handsome original fireplaces.
The wide hall and the livingroom opening off it both have original cornice work and stripped pine floorboards. The livingroom, which is bright enough, thanks to a very large window to the front, to carry off rich terracotta painted walls with ease, has a black and white marble fireplace with a brass canopy. It is currently used as a family room, as there is an elegant drawingroom running the full width of the house on the first floor. This peaceful retreat has the grandest fireplace, a flamboyant combination of marble, cast-iron and ornate tiles.
On the first floor of the return, even the pretty Victorian-style bathroom (complete with claw-footed bath, brass taps and embossed window glass) has a fireplace. Next to it on this level is the main bedroom, with another cast-iron fireplace. This spacious room also meets practical needs with a full wall of built-in wardrobes and a wash basin. One floor up are the two remaining bedrooms; a double, again with a superb fireplace and wash basin, and a single, with painted tongue-and-groove panelling up to dado level.
Steps lead down from the hall to the kitchen area which has been completely redesigned to good effect. The original kitchen has been extended, using a vaulted roof window and French doors to provide a sunny area for dining. The kitchen itself is roomy and attractive, with solid oak counters, white-painted tongue-and-groove units, a butler's sink and a generous expanse of blue and white Mexican wall tiles matching the navy blue range-style electric cooker which stands in the old range alcove. Next to the kitchen, and sharing the same pale terracotta tiles, is a well thought out power-shower-cum-utility-room. There is a small front garden and a zero-maintenance back garden - effectively a large split-level terrace - paved almost entirely in Liscannor tiles with a few mature trees and shrubs.
