In 1878 a Victorian developer built three pairs of semidetached houses on Eglinton Road in Donnybrook for himself and his children. Number 56, Bartra, was his house, with numbers 58 to 66 called Milverton, Maudena, Harryville, Francesca and Maryville.
A historic map belonging to the owners of Maryville, 66 Eglinton Road, yields this information. The current owners have lived there for 40 years and liked it so much that they considered building a house in their back garden to downsize to. Architect Cameron Lee designed the plans and the couple received full planning permission to build a 174sq m (1,873sq ft) bungalow in summer 2024.
They didn’t go ahead with the plan, however, deciding it was something they should have done a decade ago when they had more energy. So 66 Eglinton Road, Donnybrook, Dublin 4, a 307sq m (3,305sq ft) two-storey-over-basement four/five-bedroomed house is now for sale through Hunters, seeking €2.75 million. It comes with a 131 ft-long back garden – and potential to build that bungalow.
Number 58 Eglinton sold for €3.625 million in December 2023, according to the Property Price Register; number 59, on the other side of Eglinton Road, went on the market in May 2023 for €2.85 million.
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Number 66 has Victorian period features such as marble fireplaces, working shutters and high ceilings. The owners did a lot of renovations after moving in in 1985; the previous owners had lived there since 1936 and it was, they say, “in rag order”. New owners will likely renovate and upgrade the house again; most recently, in 2006, the couple extended and built a new TV room and kitchen, designed by architect John McCrossan, opening on to the patio and lawn at the back of the house. It has an E2 Ber.
Granite steps lead up to the front door of number 66, opening into a tiled porch where an inner stained-glass door leads into the front hall. On the right are two large reception rooms that run from the front to the back of the house.
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The large livingroom looks over Eglinton Road through a wide and deep bay window; there’s a window at the side of the room as well, facing a pale grey marble open fireplace. It matches the fireplace in the diningroom, connected to the livingroom by a wide arch with double doors. They’re elegant rooms, furnished in period style, with long drapes and period furnishings.
Stairs towards the end of the hall – with original glass panels at the side – lead down to the basement. The owners didn’t want their kitchen at this level, so they built a single-storey extension to the first floor at the back of the house. A cosy carpeted TV room – where the TV is set into a wall of built-in-cupboards – opens down a few steps into the kitchen.
Both rooms, especially the kitchen, are bright, with floor-to-ceiling windows. The kitchen has a high, arched beamed ceiling, with windows at back and side opening on to the garden. Floored with walnut, but tiled between the island and the cooker, it has white units, with the island and countertops topped with polished black stone.
In the basement, there’s a large family room with bookshelves at one end and an open fireplace near the other; it’s a cosy room in winter, say the owners. Three windows in a bay at the front look up to the front lawn. Another large room at the back of the house is fitted out as a full office: with a door into the back garden, it has separate access from the rest of the house, useful for someone who might want to run a business from their home. It could also be a fifth bedroom.
There’s a bathroom off the downstairs hall and a utility room at the end of the hall with a traditional pull-down drying rack. At the other end of the hall, under the front steps, is a coal hole and, just to its right, a small wine cellar.
Upstairs are four bedrooms, two singles and two doubles and the family bathroom. The main bedroom, which overlooks the back garden, has an en suite shower and a wall of mirrored wardrobes. Another double has fitted wardrobes and a desk. A single at the front of the house has a mezzanine bed accessed by a ladder: the family created this themselves, much to the delight of their then nine-year-old son and now their grandchildren.
The huge stone-walled back garden is mainly in lawn, with mature trees and bushes bordering it: there’s a pear tree dating from the 1870s, they believe, tall beech trees and a walnut tree that the couple planted themselves 40 years ago, and smaller apple trees. It’s meticulously kept: the couple found a gardener to maintain it after they moved in and he continues to work for them.
There’s room to park several cars in the front driveway as well as a garage. A path divides a neat front lawn behind iron railings.
