When the owners of Yeovil on Bushy Park Road bought their Edwardian redbrick home in 2007, they discovered one of the first occupants had been English composer Arnold Bax; he wrote about the view from the upper back windows, which look out over the Dublin Mountains and the playing fields of the High School in Rathgar.
They undertook a huge job of renovations, re-roofing, rewiring, replumbing, replacing windows and upgrading the insulation to the extent that the five-bed with an exceptionally generous area of 371sq m (3,993sq ft) has a B3 Ber. Mullery O’Gara are bringing the beautifully appointed house to the market, seeking €3.25 million.
The owners’ style is laid back and clever, and it’s obvious every element in the two-storey-plus-return house has been considered. The result is an elegant, relaxed home that flows seamlessly from one area to the next, with plenty of unexpected surprises along the way, such as a lovely interior courtyard, a sunroom, and a side passage that has been covered and fitted out as a utility space.
“We wanted things to work, for everything to be simple and practical, not fighting for attention,” says one of the owners. They succeeded, creating a home where everything has its place and nothing is too much. The entrance hall is tiled and there are two formal reception rooms on either side of it. The drawingroom is painted a pale green, and the gold accents in the curtains, the huge mirror over the fireplace and the panels in the marble fireplace warm everything up.
Housing in Ireland is among the most expensive and most affordable in the EU. How does that happen?
One in five people expect to pay mortgage in retirement, survey finds
Irish architectural great Ronnie Tallon built a home far superior to Mies van der Rohe’s original. Time to protect it
Sherry FitzGerald CEO Steven McKenna to leave firm to ‘explore new opportunities’
The use of the other front reception room as a study is surprising, until the rest of the house reveals itself. These rooms are north facing, so all the living and relaxing takes place in a suite of rooms at the back of the house. A pretty sunroom connects the drawingroom to the new extension, which houses a spectacular kitchen at the back. Behind the study on the left-hand side of the ground floor is a livingroom the family use for movies, and a sunny courtyard.
Spanning the width of the house at the back is a south-facing triple-apex kitchen/living/diningroom, with three enormous sliding doors opening on to a patio. The owner knew exactly what she wanted from the kitchen; a few companies dismissed her designs before she found a collaborator in Langrell Kitchens in Wicklow, which understood her vision and executed it perfectly.
Kitchen units are built in a tall four-sided block, with appliances tucked in among the cabinets, and the rear of the unit operates as a back kitchen. It’s ingenious, and extra workspace is provided by an island. It’s hard to appreciate the rest of this room, as the eye is drawn constantly outwards to a garden that, like the house, is full of delights and surprises. A circular lawn is surrounded by dense planting, with large acers and apple trees trailing over a trellis. Numerous nooks are filled with flowers, benches, chairs and tables and at its end is a wooden summer house with a stove that provides a tranquil escape.
On the return is a family bathroom. The owner chose the same classic tiling scheme for all the bathrooms throughout the house. A lovely bedroom with a pair of Juliet balconies also has a false wall behind the bed with wardrobes concealed behind it. The first floor has three more double bedrooms and a single: two of the bedrooms to the front are en suite, the main is another example of clever design with concealed wardrobes behind the bed.
There’s another bathroom on the final return at the top of the house, as well as access to storage. It’s a super house for a family looking for a Rathgar base, with everything in walk-in condition and an exceptional garden ready to enjoy.
