It was on the way home from an evening in the Hole in the Wall pub, one of the capital’s best-loved drinking spots, that the owners of Phoenix Cottage spotted a “for sale” sign on the property.
Situated 17 doors down from the gastro pub, which is beside one of the pedestrian entrances to the park, the house wooed them from the get-go.
The capital’s largest green space is home to our President and the American ambassador, and they discovered that this property is probably as close as you can get to living in the park without having either of those two titles.
And what a charmer it is. You walk through a gated brick arch and up a set of steps to its front garden, which faces northeast and gets morning sun.
The property is well laid out and extends to almost 12m (39ft) wide. It comprises a single-storey artisan cottage to the right with accommodation in the two-storey extension to the left.
The livingroom enjoys all of the period elements of a home that is slightly older than the State. The space has light from its sash windows to the front and a roof light to the back, its vaulted and beamed ceiling panelled in stained timber. The render on the chimney breast has been removed to expose its buff brick with an arched storage for logs echoing the line of the raised fireplace. It has polished floorboards underfoot that are as deeply patinated as the ceiling.
There’s a small galley kitchen to the rear. Well furnished with storage and lit from above by a bank of Velux windows, it isn’t big enough to be an eat-in space, hence the dining table in the livingroom.Across the hall are two bedrooms, a double and a single, as well as the family bathroom and a narrow room that is used as an office and a music room. Its windows look out at the park’s granite boundary wall.
The main bedroom is on the first floor, accessed via a spiral staircase. The dual-aspect space feels very far away from busy working lives, especially when you open the double doors out to the balcony. From here you can see across acres of green space and can spot the deer herd, badgers and foxes. Thankfully the cottage is far enough away from the zoo for you not to be woken at dawn by the roar of hungry big cats.
Also known as number 16 Doyle’s Cottages, the house is set on a little side road buffering it from the bus traffic of Blackhorse Avenue.
Agent Sherry FitzGerald is seeking €550,000 for the detached house, which extends to 105sq m (1,130sq ft) and has a Ber of F.
