One of a pair of Victorian homes close to the leafy junction with Upper Rathmines Road, 69 Cowper Road is an impressive light-filled house which was last on the market in 2005 and was purchased by its current owners in 2006.
Since then the semidetached property has undergone a dramatic renovation, most notably the addition of a superb kitchen/dining extension to the rear. Pierce Long of award-winning architectural firm Lawrence and Long – which bagged the hospitality building award in the 2019 Building & Architect of the Year awards for the transformation of the Devlin Hotel in nearby Ranelagh – was engaged for the project.
The owners say they did not want a flat ceiling but “wanted a bit of relief, and didn’t want to build too high on account of their neighbours”.
The result is a lovely, timeless social space that opens out to both an inner courtyard and a rear patio via retractable windows, allowing a seamless divide between inner and outer areas.
An original Poggenpohl kitchen has since been given a new lease of life with a repaint and sits perfectly with an extended set of units by O’Connors of Drumleck. Overhead, a large roof light floods the room with light and space, as does the fact that the room enjoys dual aspect. The use of clerestory windows overhead allows ambient lighting while also creating a space for air to flow and circulate.
Last year the owners installed underfloor heating in the kitchen/hallway and utility room.
To the front lie a pair of interconnecting reception rooms, used as living spaces; both retain fine period features such as marble fireplaces, classical coving and centre pieces. One of these rooms boasts a new bay window; the second has lots of built-in storage and is warmed by a stove set within an original marble fire surround.
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The room to the front has an open fireplace, as does a third living space upstairs on what was originally the piano nobile.
“The house really changed with our needs over the years; where the television is now we first used as a playroom, while the livingroom upstairs was originally used as a bedroom,” says the owners.
Set over three floors, essentially this 240sq m (2,583sq ft) semidetached red brick house has five bedrooms – including the present livingroom (on the piano nobile, which occupies the entire width of the house) and a room on the first floor currently laid out as a home office.
The principal bedroom is located to the rear of the second floor where an archway leads to a dressingroom, off which is a fine en suite. All windows, including the bay in the front drawingroom, are new, double-glazed, hardwood sash windows by Kells Traditional Timber Windows and Doors.
In 2016 the attic underwent a clever conversion that now offers an extra 27sq m (294sq ft) of space. Here picture windows allow panoramic views to the Dublin Mountains, and the room is currently laid out with a built-in desk and shelving.
The house has three garden spaces, including a travertine tiled courtyard off the kitchen centred by a specimen olive tree. The rear garden, which has a southerly aspect, was designed by Grange Growers in Kilternan and is laid out with mature plantings including a huge, fruit-producing olive tree and a weeping blue Atlas cedar. A Gabriel Ash greenhouse acts as a backdrop to a seating area, and is where the family grow tomatoes and herbs during the summer months.
To the rear there is access to a vehicular laneway and there is additional storage in the garden.
All in all, 69 Cowper Road is a most impressive offering; all the work has been done and its mix of mid-century decor and use of colour throughout makes it a really inviting home.
Seeking a new project, the owners have placed their C3-rated house which lies close to the Luas green line stop at Cowper and a host of eateries and specialist shops in nearby Rathmines and Ranelagh, on the market through Sherry FitzGerald, seeking €2.45 million.
