RATHGAR €2.25 MILLIONThe decor of this fine, stately house is of another era, albeit in the best possible taste
AS HOUSES go, they don’t come much better looking than 27 Orwell Park in Rathgar, Dublin 6, an imposing early 20th-century double-fronted redbrick with a fanlight over the door and exquisite period mosaic tiling at its entrance.
Inside, however, is a bit like stepping into another era – circa 2006 when the Celtic Tiger was in full swing. The five-bed detached house is being sold by the receiver KPMG through Savills, who are asking €2.25 million. The house was owned by business man Tony Dean who founded A1 Waste.
Inside the 423sq m (4,561sq ft) house is an example of the best rather than the worst of that era but some of the fixtures and fittings give the date of the renovation away. They include the built-in gas fires in almost every room, some have firestones, which once were all the rage.
Boutique hotel-style square or oval sinks are a staple of the bathrooms and oversized studded velvet headboards adorn some bedrooms. The pièce de résistance is the curved glass and marble spiral staircase crowned by an atrium style roof. A lift serves the first and second floors and there’s a very natty looking granny flat in the back garden. There isn’t so much an entrance hall as an entrance living room, accessed through big frosted glass doors off an inner porch. This room has very expensive-looking matt marble floors – a hallmark of most of the ground floor. There’s a separate formal drawing room which has one of few traditional fireplaces in the house. A bay window overlooks the street at one end while at the other there’s a partition that rolls back to reveal the family room.
The kitchen and family room can also be accessed through another set of frosted doors in the hall. The kitchen is separate and is suprisingly small for a house of this size, but is contemporary, with wood veneer units and a granite topped counter .There’s a separate utility and store room.
A new owner might want to extend the kitchen into the family room. Doors open out to a wide back garden that has a paved area with steps down to lawn, a deck to the rear with a thatched pergola and a side patio. The one-bedroom granny flat looks like a miniature of the main house although it’s debatable whether many grannies would want to negotiate the narrow winding staircase to the upper floor. There’s a big garage with a ceramic tiled floor. Upstairs, between the first floor return and the second floor there are five en suite bedrooms, all with luxurious showers – there are no baths in the house. All have plush, if impractical, white carpets, fitted wardrobes, and three have built-in gas fires. The main bedroom has a vaulted ceiling, a door to a balcony, and a big walk- in wardrobe and dressing space.
27 Orwell Park, Dublin 6
Description: five bedrooms, detached, with granny flat
Agent: Savills
