Hidden behind a high clipped hedge on the corner of Butterfield Avenue and Butterfield Drive in Rathfarnham is a most unusual detached house. This is Old Orchard, one of the oldest houses in the area, and home, for a short spell in 1803, to Robert Emmet.
The current owner came to live here over 40 years ago but is now trading down to a smaller home. Lisney will auction the five-bedroom property on March 15th and selling agent John Whyte is suggesting a guide price of £650,000-plus. Though it sits on the edge of a busy road, this is a true gem. While some viewers may see only how much work needs to be done to take it into the 21st century, others will appreciate its quirky layout, sparse furnishings and abundance of natural light.
The large back garden and original coach-house are also bound to impress. The two-storey coach-house at the side of the house has been used as a self-contained flat. It could be incorporated into the main house to make a total floor area of over 3,000 sq. ft, or converted to a home office, or mews house with income potential.
Either way, work will have to be done to upgrade this part of the building and new owners may also consider removing the tarmac which covers the original yard.
The front door opens into a bright white-painted hallway with tongue-and-groove wainscoting and doors on three sides. To the left is the dining-room, an interesting angled room with a wide bay window in one corner and an ornate painted cast-iron fireplace.
The polished timber floor and low ceiling gives this room the feel of an old English farmhouse. The drawing-room, at the end of the hall, is more Georgian in style and feel with its simple ceiling cornices and multi-pane sash windows on three sides.
From here, a door opens to a steep couple of steps that lead down to a cosy sitting-room with warm red walls and a door to the garden.
On the other side of the hall is a passage that leads to the kitchen and, by way of a panelled lobby, or boot room, to the sitting-room. The kitchen is simply fitted with pine units and there is an old Stanley range concealed in an archway.
Off the kitchen is a long pantry with a curved panelled wall on one side and shelves on two sides. The kitchen also has French doors to the garden and access to the yard at the side of the house via a scullery.
Upstairs there are five bedrooms. The main bedroom, which is the nicest, mirrors the drawing room below and has steps leading down to a smaller bedroom that could make an en suite bathroom.
A corridor leads to a bathroom and a bedroom with access to the upper floor of the coach-house, currently one large room with an ornate iron fire escape leading down to the garden.
The 110 ft by 66 ft garden has a wide area of lawn dotted with fruit trees and fringed by mature and colourful shrubs and trees.
