Fontenoy Street, Dublin 7, is close to the fabled Black Church. Number 44, an end of terrace redbrick house with three bedrooms, was built in 1872 and is on record as the last house to be lived in by the peripatetic Joyce family.
James Joyce, and his son, Giorgio, spent three months there in 1909, visiting his father and aunts. Today's house retains many of the original features and is for sale through Douglas Newman Good, which is quoting a guide price of £150,000 in advance of the April 29th auction. Single storey to the front and double to the back, the house has been freshly decorated and has had features such as its original windows, stairs and banisters restored.
The fireplace in the sitting room has been replaced with a larger, more impressive one from the period, while the cast-iron fireplaces in other rooms are original. The 25 ft long rear garden "with small privy", which existed during the Joyce family sojourn, is now a compact, enclosed yard. Today, the bathroom is a good-sized family affair situated on the first floor return. The house, overall, covers some 1,280 sq. ft.
To the front, there is a compact railed and landscaped garden. The entrance hallway is high and long, leading through the house to the kitchen at the rear. It has wooden floorboards and an under-stairs storage area, which has its original door. The living room has that impressive fireplace - in black slate with a marbling effect, tile inset and a copper canopy - as well as the original, and functioning shutters on the window. The polished wood floorboards are replacements, as is the cornice work and picture rail. What is now the third bedroom, but would once have been the dining room, is almost identical in size to the sitting room. It looks out on to the rear yard and has a cast-iron fireplace. The kitchen/breakfast room has another fireplace from the period, set into a wide chimney breast.
The central heating is gas-fired. There are two windows and a door with a glass panel on to the yard, which has a high surrounding wall. There is access to a back lane.
The landing is nicely lit by refracted, coloured light from a wide, leaded-glass window. Both upstairs bedrooms are off the landing to the rear, each with wooden framed windows. In one, there is a cast-iron fireplace and sloped, attic-style ceiling. The other has trap door access to an attic which has been insulated. The bathroom, also off the landing, has a shower, lavatory and wash-hand basin. There is a Velux window in the wood panelled ceiling and timber flooring.
