Dublin 6: Number 60 Cowper Road, Rathmines, Dublin 6 offers a stylishly presented contemporary interior behind the period hall door in a most sought after location.
With five reception rooms, five bedrooms, three shower/bathrooms and a large garden office, this is a deceptively roomy semi-detached home. It will be auctioned on November 5th with Sherry Fitzgerald guiding €1.4 million.
Cowper Road is a leafy, mature road between Upper Rathmines and Dartry. Within walking distance are four primary schools, with a number of well-known second-level schools nearby. The Luas stop at Cowper Road is a four-minute walk away, with the rail journey a projected 12 minutes from the city centre.
The house was built in 1935. When the vendors moved in 10 years ago they embarked on a paced and architect-designed upgrade.
This has included fitting reclaimed oak flooring and extensive wall panelling throughout, recreating a new diningroom and kitchen area, completely remodelling the main bedroom, opening up the attic area and converting the rear garage, which has its own rear entrance, into a garden office.
There is now 248 sq m (2,670 sq ft) of accommodation, while a pale colour scheme, interior glazed doors, velux windows and a spacious ground floor room arrangement adds to the airy, light-filled feel.
The hall has an oak floor and panelled walls painted white below the dado rail. Walking into the drawingroom gives a real sense of the calibre of the revamp. The interconnecting drawingroom, family room and diningroom unite in a smart contemporary feel achieved through strong, clean, unfussy lines.
The drawingroom has an oak floor and a modern porcelain stone mantlepiece with dog leg fireplace and coal-effect gas fire. A window seat in beechwood sits under the six paned bay window, while a fitted floor cupboard with panelled doors painted cream is topped by wide wall shelving.
The family room has a similarly stylish fireplace, TV cabinet and built-in storage for children's toys. A modern diningroom has been built on the site of a 1960 conservatory. Its Tuscany limestone floor reflects the light from its garden patio doors and large roof Velux.
The diningroom is connected to a large modern kitchen floored in the same Italian limestone. A Scholtes multi-function oven is set in a recessed tiled alcove and surrounded by bespoke oak country-style furniture painted cream and topped with small marble tiles. A pale blue and cream playroom connected to the kitchen has lots of built-in storage and a side door to the garden. The play room opens into the hall and is beside a ground floor fully tiled toilet. A fifth narrow room with bay window is currently used as a study.
The wall panelling continues up the stairs to the bedrooms. The main bedroom suite runs the width of the house. A coal gas fire lit in the late afternoon gave a great feeling of cosiness to an immensely stylish room. A walk-in dressingroom leads on to a bathroom with Italian travertine floor and wall tiles, slipper bath, shower, and recessed tile-framed rectangular mirror. There are three further bedrooms and a fully tiled family bathroom on this floor.
The main staircase continues on up to the attic which has a large bedroom with sloping ceilings, window seat, fitted wardrobes and en suite shower room. This would make a lovely teen bedroom/study, a home office, or au pair accommodation.
The front garden has been landscaped to provide off-street parking for two cars. A door leads to a tiled side passage with glazed roof bicycle park and on to a south-facing rear garden with wide patio area. The lawn is fringed with mature shrubs and has a side path down to a garden shed and garden office.
A judiciously placed window allowing parental supervision of the garden play area while in the office is just another indication of the great attention to detail.
