Marlborough Road is a quiet, leafy stretch just off Adelaide Road in Glenageary, filled with a mix of elegant period houses and contemporary homes. It’s quiet and private enough to feel out of the way, but it’s just a short stroll from the vibrant village of Glasthule, and only a short hop on the Dart from Dalkey and Dún Laoghaire.
Number 3 Marlborough Road is a late 19th-century house that was refurbished and extended by its owners in 2012 to create a wonderful, spacious family home that makes full use of the south-facing rear aspect, with ample room for hosting parties, and many useful, versatile spaces throughout to suit a family’s changing needs as they grow.
The owners hired renowned architect Paul Brazil to do the refurb and extension, and he brought out the original features of the house and made sure the new extension to the rear and to the side tied in nicely with the house’s simple, solid old-style functionality. The works brought the house up to a generous 501sq m (5,400sq ft) with a C1 Ber energy rating. It is for sale through Sherry FitzGerald, asking €4.75 million.
The entrance hall has wide-plank solid-wood floors, a dado rail, ceiling coving and centre roses, and a squared archway leading to the less-formal end of the house. There’s no “good room” as such, say the owners, and both the large drawingroom and diningroom to the front are designed to be warm and welcoming and to get everyday use. When their kids had friends round, they were encouraged to use these front rooms – nowhere was off-limits. Both drawingroom and diningroom have pristine ceiling coving and centre rose, and big, light-bearing bay windows and feature fireplaces with marble, making them ideal rooms to cosy up in on a cold night.
“We tend to spend winter months mostly in the front of the house, then move towards the back of the house during the summer,” say the owners. Moving to the back of the house, you can see how the architect made the most of the light coming in from the south, with everything oriented towards the sun as it crosses the sky. Ceiling height glazing runs all along this extension, opening out the kitchen/dining/living area to the fine rear patio and very private back garden.
The kitchen itself is set back towards the centre of the house, but a large rooflight keeps it brightly lit. Beside the kitchen is a cosy snug for watching TV, and beside that is a large office with its own rooflight and more doors opening out to the back patio. On the west side of the house is a large side extension, with a family room looking out to the back garden, plus a handy wetroom, boot room and utility room, and a hallway leading out to an entrance door at the side. There’s also a large plant room which doubles as a storage area for bikes and such.
On the first-floor return is a large double bedroom with ceiling coving, an ornate fireplace and recessed lighting, with double doors going in to an en suite with a tiled floor and part-tiled walls, and a shower with two shower heads. Three more bedrooms and the family bathroom are on the first floor. The principal bedroom suite looks out to the front and has feature fireplace with cast iron inset, ceiling coving and a picture rail, a large en suite with twin sinks set in a granite surround, wall-to-wall mirror with glass surround, tiled bath surround and shower with mosaic tiling. The en suite also has a feature porthole window, which the owners say is a signature style of the architect.
Beside the en suite is a spacious dressingroom with extensive built-in wardrobe and shelf space, with its own window looking out to the front. Marlborough Road is nicely secluded, and number 3 is not overlooked, but the shutters work perfectly to afford added privacy.
The fifth bedroom is on the second-floor return, and on its landing is another of Brazil’s signature porthole windows. The spacious bedroom also has a hidden dressing area leading in to an en suite with tiled floor and part-tiled walls, and a shower with metro-brick tiling.
The private back garden is surrounded by granite walls, and several seating areas have been set up to catch the sun at various times of the day. It’s a tranquil garden, made for both relaxing and entertaining – or doing a spot of gardening. There’s parking out front for several cars and there’s a side access gate for pedestrians.
At the other end of Marlborough Road is the Glenageary Dart station, and it’s only a short walk down to Sandycove and the Forty Foot or Bullock Harbour. On nearby Silchester Road, you’ll find Glenageary Tennis Club, and there are numerous schools in the area including the Harold national school, Rathdown, Castle Park school, St Joseph of Cluny secondary school and Loreto Dalkey.
