Number 7 Morehampton Road is a stunning period property that effortlessly blends the modern and the old, thanks to a thoughtful renovation by TAKA architects in 2010, which saw it win the RIAI best house award.
Its subsequent owners respected both the architectural revamp and the old bones of the 278sq m (2,992sq ft) two-storey-over-basement Victorian.
It’s no surprise this was a much-loved home, and it presents to the market in impeccable condition with a host of features normally seen in more modern builds.
The redbrick exterior, set well back from the road behind wrought-iron gates, and the entrance hall, give scant clues as to what lies below the impressive ground floor, with a herringbone floor in the hallway and arch before the stairs.
The first architectural clue lies in the broad opening into the drawingroom, a wide architrave clad in Douglas fir timber, and from there, the Douglas fir appears again in the window frame in the interconnecting sittingroom overlooking the garden. This is a lovely pair of rooms, painted a soft grey, with matching pale marble fireplaces.
At the end of the hall is a blue study with more of the Douglas fir used for shelving, and a stove to keep things cosy on winter days. A flight of stairs clad in herringbone carpet leads downstairs to a truly stunning space, a confection of polished poured concrete floors, stainless steel, red brick and concrete. There’s a Snaidero kitchen and not one but two islands with stainless steel worktops; one of the islands has a sink, the other has a five-ring Neff hob with an extractor hood.
Beyond the kitchen, to the rear of the house, there’s a dining table crafted from concrete, which is included in the sale. A redbrick wall and more Douglas fir, used here as beams that softly filter light from the roof light installed above the table, go quite the way to softening up what could be an industrial space, and is anything but.
Another concrete beam delineates a breakfastroom with a window and a fireplace from the main space, and sliding patio doors open out on to the maintenance-free garden, with Himalayan Dogwood trees keeping everything green in the middle of March.
At the far end of the kitchen, towards the front of the house, is another living area. It has a feature fireplace and a window looking out to the front garden. A door leads through to a completely ingenious storage space, with a large closet, a bank of doors opening on to more storage, a WC and a shower under the stairs, and, backing on to all of this, accessible from the kitchen side, a small utility room.
On the return to the first floor is a modern family bathroom, with a free-standing bath, slate floor and double wash-hand basins, and a separate shower enclosure lit by a feature, frosted window.
There are three bedrooms on this floor. The main bedroom overlooks the garden, and there are two rooms to the front of the house, the larger of which is in use as a study. On the final return there’s another bedroom, and cleverly hidden behind a curtain are the washing machine and tumble dryer housed in a space on the return.
A beautiful home, the owner will miss the light, the location and its space. Number 7 Morehampton Road is on the market with Lisney Sotheby’s International Realty, seeking €2.5 million.
