A 1930s bungalow on a quiet street a short walk from the Cowper Luas stop in Ranelagh has been given a complete makeover since it was bought 10 years ago. Now the detached 176sq m (1,894sq ft) four-bed on Park Drive is for sale in walk-in condition for €1.695 million.
The neat double-fronted exterior gives little hint of the modern house inside, which is decorated in mostly neutral shades and smartly fitted out with contemporary furniture, as well as including features like a central vacuum system, underfloor heating and solar panels. Most striking is the glass-walled oak staircase leading to a dormer bedroom upstairs. Despite all this, period features, like the panelled internal doors, remain, albeit with very smart new doorknobs.
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The front door, with leaded side panels, opens into a stone-floored front hall. On the right is the long living/kitchen/diningroom that runs from the front to the rear of the house. It’s a bright space, with a wide bay window to the front, a wall of floor-to-ceiling glazed doors at the back, and, above the kitchen, two large glazed rooflights.
The oak-floored livingroom has a Chesney stone fireplace with a slate hearth. Wide double doors divide it from the kitchen and dining/familyroom, which are floored with stone tiles like the hall. The smart SieMatic kitchen has a large island with a granite worktop and breakfast bar. A wide arch opens from here into the dining/familyroom, where a DesignYard cabinet has glazed and open-shelved display units. There is a separate small utility room.
The sliding glass doors at the end of this space push back completely to open onto the rear garden. This is laid out as a large sandstone patio with a high raised bed filled with plants and a stone wall at the end with a water feature. A door at the side opens into a laneway beside the house.
Three of the four bedrooms are en suite. The main bedroom, located at the front of the house, has a wide bay window matching that in the livingroom; it is also floored with wide plank oak. The smart en suite has stone-tiled floors and walls, a bath and walk-in shower, and, like all the bathrooms in the house, Villeroy & Boch fittings.
Two of the other bedrooms – one of them fitted out as a study – have floor-to-ceiling windows. And one, decorated as a child’s bedroom, has a small walk-in wardrobe, as well as an en suite showerroom. The oak staircase leads to a smart en suite dormer bedroom with another picture window.
There’s room to park several cars behind electric gates in the landscaped front garden.
Park Drive is a cul-de-sac backing onto the grounds of Gonzaga secondary school. It has an interesting history: turreted Edwardian houses closer to the end of the road were designed in 1907 for the Irish International Exhibition.
