The bidding for St Andrews in Foxrock, Dublin, had been rising incrementally as three people chased each other to secure the property. “The room jumped when I said £180,000,” the current owner says today. That was in 1994. The detached 263sq m (2,835sq ft) house on a third of an acre of gardens on Gordon Avenue in Foxrock, has almost trebled in size since then, extended first in 1995 and again in 2004.
Meticulously maintained, it’s in much the same condition as it was when The Irish Times wrote about the house in 2022. It was for sale then through Sherry FitzGerald for €2.15 million but wasn’t sold. Now it’s back on the market for €2.195 million: “The price increase of €45,000 since the house was last for sale is modest, given the strength of the market,” says Sherry FitzGerald agent Rena O’Kelly, “and reflects the vendor’s motivation to sell.” One small change has been made since 2022: the house now has new front and back doors. It has a C3 Ber.
It’s been a happy family home, where the owners’ two daughters held 18th birthday parties in a marquee on the back lawn. The children gone, the house is too big for them. “We’re selling if we get the right offer – but if we had to stay, it would be no hardship,” they say. It’s evident that the owners are house-proud and the house is in walk-in condition.
St Andrews started life in 1925 as a cottage called Old Bawn, designed by Edwin Bradbury, the architect who designed buildings in Herbert Park in Ballsbridge. It’s understood to be one of the oldest houses on Gordon Avenue and has some 1920s period touches: internal one-over-three panelled doors, cast-iron fireplaces in many rooms and working bells in the kitchen that speak of a time when even modest suburban houses had staff.
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It’s a bright house, with white walls and an oak floor running throughout the ground floor. The front hall has a small galleried landing above it and opens directly into the open-plan livingroom/kitchen/breakfastroom at the back of the house. The kitchen has a walnut-topped island unit, black polished granite countertops and a window seat close to double doors opening into the back garden. The livingroom just off the kitchen is a good size and has a cast-iron open fireplace. A utility room opens off a corner of the kitchen and has a door into the side of the garden.
Other ground-floor rooms include a drawingroom with a large sandstone fireplace; the room is dual aspect and has patio doors opening into the back garden. A home office/playroom opens off the left of the front door and the diningroom is on the right.
A door from the diningroom opens into a back hall from where stairs lead up to four bedrooms, all doubles; some in the original part of the house have those still-working service bells. One of the upstairs bedrooms could be expanded by extending across to the galleried landing; this is a quirky if attractive feature, created when the stairs were moved to the side of the house.
The main bedroom is a large double with two windows overlooking the back garden. It has a walk-in dressingroom lined with floor-to-ceiling wardrobes opening into a tiled en suite with a bath and shower. A large family bathroom is fully tiled.
There’s a sandstone patio in the back garden stepping up to a back lawn sheltered by high hedges. Mature trees include a bay laurel, a honey locust and a sweet cherry.
There’s lots of room to park in the gravelled front garden.
