As central to Sandymount action as a house could be, 107 Sandymount Avenue sits on a T-junction leading in one direction to the village/coast, in another to the suburb’s schools/sports facilities and on to Ballsbridge and the city centre. Something of a landmark, it has enviable views of comings and goings in and about Sandymount.
Tall and handsome, the group of four houses to which 107 belongs was built between 1905 and 1907. Number 107 being the largest of the four, the builder chose to live there himself. The vendors, only the third family to own it since then, have been in situ since buying it for £49,000 in 1980.
“We married and had children here,” the vendor says, “we got them out and now we’re going to be grandparents. But it’s big and we’re rattling around so are downsizing.”
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A comfortable family home with classy flourishes, it extends to 186sq m (2002sq ft) with four bedrooms, a study, two bathrooms, two reception rooms and kitchen/breakfast room. A rear, lean-to conservatory with tiled floor and impressively growing vine leads due south to a rear/side garden with exit on to Gilford Road, a walled, paved patio area and raised lawn with bedded plants. Agent Bennetts is seeking € 1.175 million.
Original Edwardian
“We did the work needed slowly, bit by bit. It’s been renewed twice at this stage,” the vendor says. “The kitchen was its original Edwardian self when we moved in and there was only an outside lavatory. We bought because it was so close to town, something we still really appreciate.”
They took down walls to open up the rear and create the well-fitted kitchen/breakfast room and a pantry where once there was a coal hole. The hallway, with picture rail and corbel-finished arch, has a definite feel of the Edwardian era. Wide, polished floorboards were lifted and insulated underneath before being replaced.
Bay window seat
Adjoining reception rooms have sliding doors between; these were remounted. The front sitting room has the original white marble fireplace and a wide, front-facing bay window with original leadlights and inviting window seat. A picture rail runs from here into the adjoining diningroom. Big enough for an eight-seater dining table, this room also has an original fireplace – in mahogany with gas inset. Both rooms have centre roses.
A dado rail in the hallway follows up along the stairs to the first return where there is a shower room and engaging study with (the vendor assures) a heat-generating cast-iron fireplace.
The main bedroom, to the front off the first-floor landing, has a window seat in the bay window with lovely views of Sandymount going about its business. Both other bedrooms at this level have cast-iron fireplaces. The fourth bedroom, with a white-painted timber floor, is on a second, top return.
