An end-of-terrace Victorian house next to the Luas line in Dublin 6 is the kind of property likely to appeal to many: it’s within walking distance of Dublin city centre, in an area coming down with yoga studios, say the owners, and, for those with young children, it’s close to three parks. The house was exceptionally nice when they bought it in 2013, they say, but they still did a lot of work on it, insulating the exterior walls, putting in a smart new kitchen and redecorating from top to bottom.
The house, which sold for €572,625 in 2013 according to the Property Price Register, is a protected structure built in the 1880s, not long after the Harcourt Street railway line – the line where the Luas now runs – was built in the 1850s. A photograph shows a steam train on the railway bridge over Dartmouth Road before the Harcourt Street line closed in 1958.
The couple have two young children but are looking for somewhere with more space as one of their mothers is moving in, so 26 Dartmouth Road, Ranelagh, Dublin 6, a 155sq m (1,668sq ft) terraced four-bed, is now for sale through Owen Reilly, seeking €975,000. The Ber-exempt property, simply but smartly decorated in neutral colours, is in walk-in condition.
The house is near the Ranelagh Road end of Dartmouth Road, close to Dartmouth Square, and adjacent to the Luas line: all you can hear of it is a hum when they’re in the garden or if a window’s open. It’s easy to find: beyond a small cast-iron railed front garden is the bright cerise pink front door underneath a fanlight. On the right of the long front hall, floored with polished beech, are the interconnecting elegantly furnished livingroom and diningroom; double doors in a wide arch link the two.
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The livingroom at the front of the house has bookshelves built into the alcoves on either side of the fireplace and there’s a polished wooden mantelpiece over the coal-effect gas fire. A window in the diningroom looks over the tiny back garden. The side wall of the house was built at an angle, adding space to both rooms, the owner points out.
The smart modern kitchen is two steps down at the end of the front hall, past a small downstairs toilet. It’s floored with pale timber-effect porcelain tiles, has timber-topped countertops, a Belfast sink and Rangemaster cooker and walls tiled with white metro tiles. Glazed double doors at the side open into the small L-shaped garden, covered with “hooverable [artificial] grass”. The high Game of Thrones-style stone wall that leads up to the Luas line is a dramatic feature of a garden lined with flowering pots. A narrow passage between the house and the wall leads to a tall gate on Dartmouth Road giving side access for bins and bikes.
Upstairs, there’s a bedroom used as a home office on the return, from where you can glimpse the Luas rattling past. Beside it, the family bathroom – like the main bedroom’s en suite shower room – is fully tiled with smart mosaic tiles.
A few stairs up lead to a spacious landing with a stained glass skylight over it. The two children’s bedrooms are brightly furnished: dinosaurs galore in one, colourful art in the other. The main bedroom looking over Dartmouth Road has a wall of built-in wardrobes.
The house has residents’ permit parking outside. There’s a coffee shop/yoga studio a few houses down the road and Dartmouth Square, the last formal square to be built in Dublin, is a few minutes’ stroll in the other direction. Ranelagh Gardens, a park with a playground and small lake hidden away off Ranelagh Road, is a five-minute walk through a laneway across the road from number 26. Across Ranelagh Road is Mount Pleasant Square Park, close to Ranelagh village.
