Charleville Road in Phibsborough runs due north from the North Circular Road, and is located about a five-minute walk from the TU Dublin campus at Grangegorman. The stately tree-lined avenue was built on lands sold by Viscount Monck of Charleville in Bray to builder Henry Hoban who lived nearby at Cumberland Place.
Constructed around 1887, the street was a popular location with well-heeled city merchants, where the piano nobile upstairs was the finest drawingroom in the house.
The terrace of eight redbrick homes are described as a “fine group of late-19th-century houses, making an important contribution to the streetscape” in the National Inventory of Architectural Heritage, which also notes that the houses are enhanced “by significant retention of historic fabric, including original doors and sash windows, and fine cast-iron railings which are the work of a skilled craftsman”.
The current owners of number 16 purchased the end-of-terrace property in 1999; “there was no central heating and the kitchen was essentially one sink and one cupboard. We had to do everything as it hadn’t been touched in about 40 years.” They are now downsizing locally as their children have flown the family coop.
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Along with new electrics, plumbing and heating systems, the property has been re-roofed with Blue Bangor slates, the original fleur-de-lis finials have been restored, as have cast-iron gutters.
Internally shutters are now in working condition, negating the need for curtains, and the main bathroom has sanitary ware from Heritage Bathrooms, including a cast-iron slipper bath. Period features include marble fireplaces and impressive coving in the interconnecting reception rooms that lie to the front of the property.
“What I really love about the house are its proportions,” says the owner. “We moved here from a three-bed semi in Swords, and when I first came into these rooms I thought they will never feel cosy – but they do – and I am still finding little details about the place the longer I live here.”
Beyond these reception rooms lies a kitchen with its original brick hearth and beyond that is a bright family room that opens to a terrace via double doors.
The principal bedroom is a standout feature as it spans the entire width of the house, and would have been the piano nobile in its heyday. With polished wooden floors, it has a cast-iron fireplace and is bathed in light thanks to two tall sash windows. Two further bedrooms and the family bathroom complete upstairs.
Outside there is a large back garden, measuring about 20m (66ft) in length. Laid out mostly in lawn, there are two patio areas and as the property is end-of-terrace it benefits from a side entrance. Quite a few concrete gargoyles and dogs lie around the place as a member of the family used to make ornamental garden features using moulds.
Number 16, which has a Ber of D2 and extends to a generous 170sq m (1,830sq ft), is now on the market through Sherry FitzGerald, seeking €895,000.
