Arguably the most interesting thing about 34 Halliday Square is that it is a relatively new home with high-tech comforts nestled in the corner of a square of mainly period properties. It was built as part of the neighbouring Palatine Square development somewhere around the late 1990s, says Chris, who owns the 69sq m (743sq ft) two-bedroom home with his wife, Fiona. When the couple bought the house in 2017 – for €300,000, according to the Property Price Register – they carried out some refurbishment work, mainly in the kitchen and bathroom. Luckily for them, Chris’s dad is a kitchen and bathroom designer and the fact they had an expert’s knowledge regarding the latest innovations is evident.
The contemporary eat-in kitchen is to the left as you enter the end-of-terrace property. The high-gloss handleless fittings in dark grey are sleek and have the gadgets to match: including a dishwasher door you press to open, slide-and-hide oven doors, pull-out cabinet shelves, an angled extractor fan and a wide chrome sink with an orange tap. Deceptively, for a smaller kitchen, there is an abundance of storage; white high-gloss units on the right of the room contain a large pantry as well as the fridge-freezer, oven, microwave and deep drawers for pots. There is also a door to a storage space, which houses the hot press, hidden behind the unit.
The kitchen has a decent-sized dining area, which looks out on to the front lawn. Although the property doesn’t have a back garden, Chris says that is often the case in Stoneybatter and most people sit in their front gardens during the summer. There is also a small patio area to the side of the front lawn where the owners have a small table and chairs, a bike shed and a bench. It is nestled close to the corner of the square and so there are few passersby to interrupt your sunbathing, Chris says. The front garden is northwest-facing and, he says, it gets sun from about 11:30am until 8pm in the summer months. There is also a driveway for one car and wiring for an EV (electric vehicle) charging point.
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To the right of the entrance at the foot of the stairs is the livingroom, which is a generous size and has an open fire and white built-in wooden shelves to the left of the chimney breast. They didn’t have to make many changes to the room, says Chris, except for repainting the walls. He points out that they replaced the old storage heaters throughout the home with Lucht LHZ smart-control heaters, which are controlled by an app. They had the attic insulated and ensured the home was kitted out with the most efficient appliances, boosting the Ber rating to a D2. The white-grid double-glazed windows were already in place when they moved in.
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Upstairs, the main bedroom is a generous size and comfortably fits a king-size bed and two wide drawer units either side. There is also a twin built-in wardrobe with railings and a shelf on top. The second bedroom on the other side of the home is a small double and currently acts as a home office by day and a nursery by night. The owners had a sofa/pull-out bed alongside the desk, Chris says, before their daughter was born. It also has a modern built-in wardrobe, installed last year. Both bedrooms overlook the leafy square, which is still decked in bunting from the last community get-together.
The family bathroom, which has white sanitary ware, a mirrored cabinet, white tiles and black hexagonal floor tiles, boasts an electric shower with a screen you can use to adjust the thermostat to your preferred setting. It also has underfloor heating and a panel you wave your hand across to flush the loo, making it one of the most high-tech bathrooms I’ve seen.
Number 34 is in a great location, with the Museum Luas stop and Phoenix Park both a short walk away. Stoneybatter village is just around the corner, which made it into Time Out magazine’s top 51 “coolest neighbourhoods in the world” in 2022. Some favoured spots for Chris and Fiona include Slice and Little Cactus cafes as well as Walsh’s pub. Korean Table is a great local restaurant, says Chris, and has been much busier following a recent four-star review in The Irish Times. The couple and their daughter are moving to the countryside to be closer to family. This future-proof home in one of the city’s trendiest areas is on the market through Sherry FitzGerald, seeking €430,000.
