Rathgar: €2.25mThe Barn, Riversdale Avenue, off Bushy Park Road in Rathgar, Dublin 6 began life as a coach-house in the back garden of Riversdale House, its Victorian neighbour. Some 25 years ago, it was extended and converted into a two-bedroom home by the former editor of The Irish Times, Douglas Gageby, who had also owned the main house.
Today, The Barn sits on a leafy site of over 0.6 acres with development potential. The house has around 176sq m (1,895sq ft) with plenty of room to extend. It is expected to fetch over €2.25 million at auction through Lisney on June 2nd.
At the end of Riversdale Avenue, itself a secluded cul-de-sac, The Barn is given further privacy by virtue of a private, gated entrance, surrounding trees and gardens and proximity to Riversdale House with its gardens. The converted coach-house itself is two-storey, the extension single storey.
An impressive library/study takes up the entire first floor of the main, converted coach-house section. A bright space, it has light spilling from narrow windows at ceiling level, from others which are porthole-style and from a long window with balcony overlooking the courtyard garden. The original stone walls have been exposed at both of the gable ends and there are varnished pine beams and trusses.
The main entrance is in the single storey extension where double doors lead to a small hallway off which there is a guest toilet. Immediately off the hallway there is a diningroom where a large window overlooks the courtyard garden. A Velux gives further light. The kitchen/breakfastroom overlooks the courtyard garden.
The livingroom has double patio doors to the courtyard and a solid fuel stove. A side window gives views of a fine, old oak on The Barn's extended, lawned gardens to the side. The bedrooms are in the main, two-storey coach-house.
A cobbled path winds through the courtyard by raised, granite surround beds and on to a walled, inner garden. The main, lawned garden, which is on the other side of the driveway, has oak and cedar trees and, just now, bluebells. A strip of grassy verge along Riversdale Avenue is also part of The Barn property. Riversdale House and Riversdale have right of way over the lands along the driveway.
