Turning left on to St Alphonsus Road just past Drumcondra village, you enter a labyrinth of towering redbrick homes. St Brigid’s Road Upper sits off Alphonsus Road, across from the beautiful cut-stone building of St Maximus and St Domatius Coptic Orthodox church, described by the National Inventory of Architectural Heritage as “substantial chapel in a loosely neo-Romanesque [style] built circa 1873 to designs by distinguished church architect George Ashlin”; it was formerly St Alphonsus Church.
Witches’ capes and pumpkin garlands are flapping in the wind on a bright October morning on St Brigid’s Road Upper, and the owner of number 12 tells me the local children usually meet up to go trick-or-treating together at Halloween. There was also a “street feast” held here during the summer for which the council granted permission to close off the street, she says.
Number 12 is a redbrick three-bed plus attic conversion midterrace home, extending to 127sq m (1,367sq ft), with a D2 Ber. Having set their sights on a their dream property nearby, the owners are placing this home, which is in walk-in condition, on the market through Sherry FitzGerald, seeking €695,000. As with many people I meet who have started a family in this area of Dublin 9, they are reluctant to move too far away as they have cafes, schools, sport facilities and public transport amenities within walking distance.
The property is set back from the street behind a cast-iron railing with a decorative front yard of loose stone and shrubs and a terracotta-coloured tiled pathway leading to the front door. Inside, the hallway is airy thanks to the high ceilings, which create a sense of space that photos can only hint at. The light wooden floors create a lovely feature here, accented by a blue patterned rug.
There are two reception rooms off the hall, connected by pocket doors. Both rooms were used more often as one cohesive dual-aspect space before the pandemic, the owner says, but they took to closing the doors between them more to use the second room for working from home, or as a playroom. The second room is painted a calming blue, has a built-in desk and shelving, and a glazed door out to the back garden.
Both rooms have cream and beige art-deco-style tiled fireplaces, and the owner had the front livingroom painted in a brushed gold shade to complement the one in there. The room also has built-in shelving beside the chimney breast, and wooden floors, which continue from the hall into both reception rooms. There is also a guest loo under the stairs.
The kitchen was extended by previous owners to add a dining/living area with a pitched roof that lets in plenty of light thanks to Velux windows and French doors out to the back garden. The wooden kitchen units are painted in Farrow & Ball Breakfastroom Green and provide plenty of storage with an integrated dishwasher and a Neff double oven. There is a whiteboard on the wall in the dining area where the family leave notes, brainstorm pizza topping ideas and compile the shopping list.
Directly outside in the back garden is a decking area with solar spotlights; the family would often add fairy lights to the wall here to create a cosy setting for eating outside on summer evenings, the owner says. The rest of the garden is laid with tiles and lawn with plenty of space to play. There is a big block-built garage at the end of the garden, which could be used as a gym or a studio as well as a utility space for the washing appliances. There is access through the garage to a rear laneway.
Upstairs the main bathroom and a single bedroom, with views to the greenery of the garden, sit in the rear return. The main bedroom is to the front of the first floor, with lots of light from two triple-glazed windows. It also benefits from a fireplace and built-in wardrobes on either side of the chimney breast. There is a second double bedroom behind it, which also has built-in wardrobes.
Up another flight of stairs is the attic conversion, which has a pitched roof with a Velux window and under-eaves storage. This would make a great office or a den; the current owners use it as a bedroom space, although its ceiling height means it is not classed as one.
There is little a prospective buyer would have to do if they bought this well-looked-after property bar adding their own personal touches to it. It is likely to attract someone who has had their eye out for a period home in this community-conscious, convenient area.
