With its elegant facade and timeless gardens, Dunmore at number 42B Palmerston Road is a house of enormous character. Located on the much sought-after tree-lined road, the property has been in the same family for the past 38 years. And houses here, in an area sometimes dubbed “where the quiet money resides”, tend to be homes for life.
Its location close to the meeting of Temple Gardens and Palmerston Road means the property is just a short stroll to the Luas stops at Cowper and Milltown, while the three salubrious Rs (the villages of Ranelagh, Rathgar and Rathmines) are all within walking distance, providing a wide choice of amenities and restaurants.
Some of Dublin’s most popular schools, including Alexandra College, St Mary’s, Sandford Park and Gonzaga are nearby, as are sports clubs including David Lloyd at Riverview, Brookfield Tennis Club and Dartry Health Club.
Solidly built and cleverly laid out, the house is rich in period detail such as original sash windows, ornate marble and cast-iron fireplaces and 3.66m (12ft) ceilings. One of the nicest rooms in the property – and indeed the favourite space of the owner – is the garden room that runs behind the house.
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It was designed by Cathal Crimmins, the architect who won the RIAI Conservation Award in 2008 for the refurbished gate lodges at Castletown House, and who also oversaw renovations at Kings Inns and All Hallows College.
Linked to the house by a corridor, with a hand-painted mural on one side while glazing on the other side gives verdant views to the garden and a gurgling water feature, it opens out to the Damien Costello-designed gardens, which are another selling point of the property.
The Victorian house now extends to a generous 336sq m (3,617sq ft) over two floors with a three-storey return. Internally, the space allows for two fine reception rooms at hall level that are filled with period details. These are located off an inner hallway which also allows access to the kitchen, which in turn opens into an informal livingroom with further access to the garden.
Upstairs, on the first floor are four fine bedrooms, while a smaller fifth bedroom and large family bathroom lie on the first-floor return.
The gardens are simply magical and designed to have maximum colour from spring into summer months and benefit from an irrigation system so nothing dries out if owners are away.
Laid out with sandstone pathways and patios, a conservatory-style greenhouse or potting shed will keep green-fingered enthusiasts busy, while a lovely redbrick gazebo will be a magical area for children to play hide and seek.
The front hall retains tapestries dating from the early 1900s. Framed in panels along the hallway, the French Arras wall hangings, though a bit faded from the light that bounces through the house, were deemed to be of significance to a textile conservationist who advised the family “not to touch them”.
Of interest was a hole in one of the windows to the front of the house: “It was only when I had a conversation with a former resident that we realised it was a bullet hole,” the owner said. (The window has since been replaced.) During turbulent times at the start of the last century, in a hunt for rebels, someone took a shot at the house, perhaps having mistaken the Victorian pile as the home of the Gifford sisters, who lived nearby. Nellie was a founder member of the Irish Citizen Army while Grace married Joseph Plunkett in Kilmainham Gaol hours before his execution.
Today it’s all a rather relaxed affair on Palmerston Road, where pedestrian traffic are homeowners out for a stroll with their dogs or local children walking home from school.
Dunmore, which is Ber exempt, is on the market through Sherry FitzGerald with an asking price of €3.7 million.
