The asking price of an Edwardian house that was given a very modern makeover in 2009 reflects the dramatic rise and fall of prices in the south county Dublin property market before and after the property crash nearly two decades ago. Dunroe, 25 Albert Road Lower, Sandycove, Co Dublin, sold after auction for €2 million in 2006. It came back on the market after being extended and renovated in 2011 with an asking price of €1.4 million; its price dropped to €1.35 million in 2013 but it wasn’t sold.
Dunroe, built in 1911, is now back on the market for €2.95 million through Vincent Finnegan. And although the very smart renovation of the 257sq m (2,766sq ft) five-bed is 16 years old, the property is in walk-in condition.
Smartly staged by APT Living, it combines period features at the front of the house – elaborate cornicing, marble mantelpieces, sash windows – with a very large, bright, modern extension with huge windows. There’s a large amount of storage both upstairs and down, with built-in wardrobes everywhere and, in the kitchen, two islands. Walls everywhere are painted white. With double-glazed windows throughout and underfloor heating, it has – fairly unusually in a period house – a B2 Ber.
A stained-glass window in the front door of the part-redbrick exterior opens into a hall floored like all the downstairs rooms with limed oak. There’s a separate entrance with a glass door at the side, opening into a separate parallel hall at the side of the house.
The drawingroom and livingroom, on the right of the main hall, are connected by frosted glass concertina doors. The drawingroom at the front of the house has a deep square bay window. Both rooms have open fireplaces with pale marble mantelpieces and both are smartly and simply fitted out with modern furniture and light fittings. The recesses on each side of the livingroom fireplace are fitted with benches with skylights above.
A frosted glass door opens into the extended kitchen, diningroom and study area of the house, the most dramatic part of Dunroe’s revamp; designed by architect Maria McVeigh and built by David Coyne, it won an Institute of Designers Residential Award in 2009. With large floor-to-ceiling windows on two sides, floor-to-ceiling sliding glass doors opening on to the back garden and two long skylights, it’s a very bright space. Both of the islands – one for food preparation, one seating six for eating at – are marble topped; the countertop beneath grey units is basalt. There’s still plenty of space for a long wooden dining table beside the doors opening on to the back garden.
This kind of large glazed extension is common in modern houses – but the large study opening off of the side of the kitchen and diningroom is unexpected. Sliding doors can be used close it off completely. It has extensive shelving, a wide fitted desk and built in cupboards, some concealing wooden filing drawers. (There is handsome cabinetry throughout the house.)
The hall at the side of the house, running from the back of the kitchen to front of the house, is designed for maximum practicality: on one side are a toilet, a utility room with a sink and fitted cupboards and a pantry with an under-counter freezer and built-in wine rack above a counter. Fitted wardrobes run most of the length of the hall on the other side, with space for seating and a coat rack above it.
Upstairs are five bedrooms, two of which are en suite, all with fitted wardrobes and the family bathroom. The main bedroom, like the drawingroom below, has a deep box bay window, a wall of wardrobes and an en suite shower room with black mosaic tiles and a slender marble wash-hand basin. A large attic bedroom has an en suite and a walk-in wardrobe with a cabinet of built-in shelves.
The garden at the back of the house has a grey limestone patio, opening on to a lawn surrounded by very high hedges. There are silver birch trees here and at the front of the house, where limestone paths border a gravelled parking space big enough for several cars.
