It doesn’t take long to work out that this Victorian terraced house is the home of a writer, with its eclectic mix of furniture, colour schemes, Egyptian art and books everywhere.
The house has a long-standing connection with the Middle East; before the owners bought it in 2019 for €1.95 million, it was the Jordanian consulate, and issued passports in a basement office that is now a handsome diningroom.
Cambridge Terrace is an under-the-radar gem, between Northbrook Road and Dartmouth Square in Ranelagh. The owners moved in just before the arrival of Covid and loved the mix of peace and convenience.
“It’s such a special street, it’s so quiet and if you have kids it’s fabulous – you have Dartmouth Square on one side and Ranelagh playground on the other,” the current owner says. “There are a lot of community things in Dartmouth Square, yoga in the park, gatherings.”
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A flight of granite steps leads to the first floor which has a light-filled hallway with unusual period decorative cornicing, two interconnected reception rooms and a bedroom to the back. The livingrooms are painted in Farrow & Ball Etruscan Red and Green Smoke.
“We wanted the old Dublin feeling, to keep the Victorian atmosphere,” the owner says.
The house is Ber-exempt, has five bedrooms over its three floors and a total of 257sq m (2,766sq ft) of living space.
The diningroom on the ground floor deliberately echoes the colour schemes of the upstairs rooms, bringing them together in one space, matching the tiled floors. This room could be put to all kinds of uses; its built-in shelves and stove would make an extravagantly comfortable office, a relaxed family room or cosy playroom.
The kitchen, also on this level, is a radical departure from the whimsical Victorian charm of upstairs: it’s white, clean and sparse, with extensive countertops in a mix of granite and wood. It’s a cook’s kitchen, large, with double sinks, built-in cherrywood butcher block, and a six-ring Smeg gas hob. Both the kitchen and the smart conservatory, which opens out on to the garden, have underfloor heating.
There’s an en suite bedroom off the kitchen the owners have used as a laundry room but it would make perfect accommodation for an au pair, especially as there is an entrance to a lane outside at the end of the garden, which is 125ft long, southwest-facing and full of mature trees.
The owners are moving to New York to be with family and will miss the house.
“The light in the house is amazing, in our main bedroom we get the sunrise, there’s a really beautiful view, and in the evenings I got the sunsets in my study.”
Number 4 Cambridge Terrace is seeking €2.35 million with Lisney Sotheby’s International Realty.
