Number 42 St Mary’s Road is a deceptively spacious two-bedroom mid-terrace home in East Wall with an attic conversion that makes an ideal home office. The current owner, Donal, originally from Belfast, bought the house in 2020 – for €473,000, according to the Property Price Register – after spending a few years working in London. He didn’t know much about the area then, but he knew he wanted to live close to his job at the IFSC – a 10-minute cycle away – and Clontarf where his brother lives, which is 15 minutes away by bike. With a Dublin Bus stop nearby on Caledon Road and the Luas at Spencer Dock 10 minutes away, you could easily skip the fuel, insurance and upkeep costs of owning a car if you lived at this East Wall address.
Entering this residence from the street, the airy hallway introduces you to the high ceilings that create a sense of space throughout the ground floor. The hall is wide, with plenty of room for a console table and a coat rack, leading on to the open-plan living-kitchen-diningroom on the left. The living area, with its white walls and semi-solid oak flooring, will provide a blank canvas for a new owner; Donal and his partner Gráinne have added personality to the space with pops of vibrant colour in the decor. The built-in storage on either side of the fireplace blends in with the white walls and is highly functional, consisting of a TV unit, bookshelves and cupboards. The fireplace houses a wood-burning stove, adding cosiness to the space.
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Moving on to the kitchen-dining area, white built-in storage has been cleverly installed. A bench for the dining area sits between cupboards, one of which houses the large fridge-freezer, on the right wall. On the left, the sleek units are a generous size, reaching up to the ceiling. The dishwasher is integrated and there are two ovens which, Donal says, are extremely useful when cooking a Sunday roast.
Ceiling-height French doors open on to the tranquil back garden, which consists of a patio and a raised deck. The garden feels private thanks to high fencing and the fact that is bordered to the rear by the end of the long garden of another house. This east-facing space gets the morning sun while the raised deck area makes the most of the evening sun, which floods through the front of the home. This fluid open-plan space is great for entertaining and never feels cramped when you have people over, Donal says.
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The fully-tiled shower room, with a full-length mirrored cabinet and heated chrome towel rail, completes the ground floor.
There is storage on the first-floor landing with a cupboard that’s big enough to house a washing machine or tumble dryer. The main bedroom, at the front of the house, is a big room with two modern double-glazed sash windows providing natural light. This room has a double Murphy bed installed, capable of folding into the wall, with recessed lighting over the headboard, great for reading into the wee hours. The second double bedroom to the back of the house is a generous double and has a built-in wardrobe.
Ascending the stairs once again, you reach the attic conversion which has wooden floors and two large Velux windows on the sloped ceiling. It is used as a work-from-home space, allowing you to close the door on work at the end of the day. There is also a second bathroom on this floor; it is fully tiled and has a bath.
Number 42, extending to 97sq m, is in the heart of East Wall, where playwright Seán O’Casey grew up, and is a friendly area, Donal says. The couple have decided to move elsewhere in the city to shorten Gráinne’s commute. This well-located modern two-bed, with a C Ber rating, is on the market through Sherry FitzGerald, seeking €495,000.
