Charming, comfortable Edwardian on large Dartry site for €3.5m

When Rosheen, at No 35 Orwell Park in Rathgar, last changed hands, in the early 1990s, the buyers were living happily in Dundrum in a two-storey over-basement period house when they spotted – there can be quite a wait at the traffic lights on the road – that the charming detached house that they had long admired was finally for sale.

And it is a property you would notice, being one of three particularly pretty, two-storey houses built in the early years of the last century on very large sites at the Dartry end of the road.

Then the elderly vendor, whose family had lived in the house for many decades, insisted on meeting the prospective buyers, who arrived with their two children on their best behaviour, because she wanted a family to move in. And that’s what happened. The new owners made some changes to the layout, adding a large timber conservatory to the rear, moving the eat-in kitchen – including the Aga – to the back of the house and building a home office to the side.

There are five double bedrooms, most still with their original fireplaces. One is up at attic level, and the rest are on the floor below off a bright and airy landing. They chose a room at the rear as the main bedroom as they could add a small en suite to it.

The original front door opens into a small interior porch – Rosheen has many Edwardian features – through which there is a square inner hall with a fireplace. Off it is a formal dining room, opening into the home office, with a dual-aspect sitting room to the front of the house with Adam-style fireplace, and a further living room. The conservatory, which is accessed off the hall and the kitchen, is used as a further living room. There’s plenty of storage throughout, as well as a utility.

The decor will not to be everyone’s taste – there are few windows without extravagant fabric pelmets and matching curtains with fringes and swags. That is all likely to change, as will the home’s energy efficiency, currently rated as a chilly F.

At 394sq m (4,241sq ft) this is a big house on about a third of an acre of lushly landscaped gardens with winding paths, lawn areas and deep beds full of colour and interest. There is off-street parking for several cars.

There is a sizeable detached garage to the side, which is as smart as the house – red brick and with a pitched roof. It’s been nearly 30 years since No 35 Orwell Park was last for sale, and buyers this time around won’t be subjected to an interview with the downsizing owner – although, like the last time, they will probably be people with a very sizeable budget who have been looking at this pretty, well-located property over many years and wondering whether it might come up for sale. DNG is quoting €3,500,000.