Bold design strides in Portobello coach house from €375k

The residents of Lennox Place were in full swing with preparations for their annual street party last weekend, on the small tree-lined street that links Lennox Street to the Grand Canal.

It is 180 years since this street and its environs were part of the Royal Portobello Gardens where annual celebrations included acrobatics, bands, fireworks and “a troupe of highly trained performing dogs”.

One year the festivities included a performance by circus owner Pablo Fanque (who was later immortalised in the Beatles song Being for the Benefit of Mr Kite), and in 1860 just a few years before construction of the houses on Lennox Place began, the famous tightrope walker Charles Blondin created a sensation with his tightrope act. The previous year he had been the first man to cross Niagara Falls on a tightrope.

While the street party is today a more relaxed affair “it shows how close we are as a community” says the current owner of 8 Lennox Place.

Number 8, part of a former coach house on the terrace was purchased by the owner in 2016 for €285,000 when it was a shell.

Today the property extends to 51 sq m (549 sq ft) and is an attractive – albeit small – townhouse, situated in one of the most popular spots in the city, due to its location just minutes from Harcourt Street and local eateries.

What is remarkable about number 8 is the bold use of colour throughout, at a time when so much domestic interior décor has been slavishly cloned from design brochures.

The exterior façade was painted in a bespoke colour, which was created by Brian Quinn of Q and Co, a family business of decorators since 1940, whose work includes many historic homes. This contrasts wonderfully with the bold tangerine of Farrow and Balls' Charlotte's Locks, and is the perfect introduction to the eclectic interior.

A sofa from Minima sits comfortably alongside a chair sourced from Age Action on Camden Street,that cost €20 prior to being reupholstered, as does a rug from IKEA against a backdrop of mid-century furniture.

The property has two bedrooms, a fine sized principal painted in Farrow and Ball Hague Blue, and a smaller single bedroom sitting adjacent to a good sized family bathroom.

Downstairs, the living room opens into the kitchen and out onto a small patch of courtyard, which though a communal area for the three houses along the terrace is home to Lenny, the family dog who takes his name from Charles Lennox, after whom the street is named.

The house is on the market through Owen Reilly seeking €375,000.