Number 2 Villiers Road in Rathgar ticks quite a few boxes. Its proximity to the villages of Rathmines and Rathgar, with an excellent selection of cafes, restaurants and shops, plus the parks at Palmerston, Dartry and Belgrave Square, makes it an ideal location. It is close enough to town for entertainment and commuting, but at the same time it is far enough away to have its own sense of community and neighbourhood.
The first thing you will more than likely notice about 2 Villiers Road is the circular box-hedging feature in the front garden. This was planted by a previous owner who purchased the property in the 1990s with the intention of keeping it as an investment. He had not planned to live there but did, as “it was such an attractive house, with lovely period details and proportions and everything was intact despite it having no electricity”. After renovating he moved in and later sold the house to a family member in 2012 for €750,000.
Inside the front hallway, the ceiling coving is remarkable and far more elaborate than many Victorian homes in the capital. The house retains its original flooring, period fireplaces and the attractive bay windows allow much light into the reception rooms.
As it currently stands, the house has two reception rooms at hall level, with the dining room opening to the rear garden through French doors. Beyond this is what the brochure describes as a breakfast room but is laid out more as a morning room with warmth from another period fireplace. Behind this again lies the kitchen, which has views to the garden. While it is perfectly fine as it is, it might make more sense for a larger family to amalgamate the breakfast/morning room and kitchen into one large space, as is the current trend.
The wow factor is on the first floor, where a principal bedroom suite now takes up the entire floor. The bedroom itself lies to the rear with views of the garden, and new interconnecting doors open to a quiet space with a sofa overlooking the front garden, with an adjacent en suite. It just looks like a lovely place to kick off your shoes, relax and take in a good book.
While new owners can easily reinstate this room back to two bedrooms and give the house four bedrooms in total, it is a lovely peaceful spot.
When the previous owner was renovating the property, he engaged a carpenter to build a full staircase up to the attic – which is floored – should more space be required down the line. As it is, the property extends to a generous enough 185sq m (1,991sq ft) but the option is there for more accommodation upstairs.
A further benefit is the off-street parking for two vehicles to the rear of the southwesterly facing garden, as spaces on the road can be hard to locate. Despite the lane being tight, the fact that the property lies towards the start of the laneway means it’s easy enough to access.
Number 2 Villiers Road is on the market through DNG seeking €1.35 million.
