Iona home was dowry

A house on Iona Road in Glasnevin that has been in the same family since it was built in 1908 is for sale by auction on March 7th. Douglas Newman Good is guiding £400,000 for the five-bedroom Strain-built house which is now in need of updating.

Number 42 is one of three houses on Iona Road that were bought by a Ms Mary Jane Clarke directly from the builder. They were intended as dowries for her three daughters and the current owner of number 42 is the elderly granddaughter of one of those three rather fortunate women.

While the house is not quite in original condition, it is not far from it. It has those details that make these solid redbrick houses so full of character, such as stained glass windows, mahogany staircases, high ceilings and well-proportioned rooms.

The two reception rooms interconnect via folding doors. Both rooms have their original impressive looking mantels but sometime in the fairly recent past the insets were replaced with unsympathetic tiles.

In the back return there is the original breakfastroom with a small kitchen beyond it. The breakfastroom has its original red flagstone tiles and wood burning stove. Upstairs on the return is a bedroom, a bathroom and a separate toilet.

Up again is a large double room at the back of the house. A very large front bedroom running the width of the house, which has two windows, has been divided into two bedrooms but that could easily be reversed as the original doorway is still in place.

The house is three storeys at the back, so on up another flight of stairs is the fifth bedroom which is large and bright. Like the bathroom, it still has its original tongue and groove wood clad ceiling. Outside there is a good sized south facing back garden, and to the front, a small front garden.

Several houses on this road have changed hands in the recent past. One further on down the road sold for more than £450,000 in January. While this house was partially re-roofed recently, it almost certainly will need a great deal of work to modernise it - the kitchen and bathroom in particular need total renovation - but the basics in terms of space, light and that unique Strain character are all there.