With a touch of gothic about it, and a great deal of fin de siècle allure and decoration, Misterton invites you to dream a little while getting a feel for how things were in large, Edwardian houses in the early 20th century.
At 21 Park Drive, Ranelagh, there is a lot of art nouveau bells-and-whistles, a tower-like structure to one side, leaded glass windows, ornate wood, tiles and plasterwork, leaving you in no doubt that it has lived. It was built, with five of its neighbours, by William Pickering to coincide with the 1907 Irish International Exhibition.
An Irish Times ad retained from the time told readers the houses "enjoyed the advantages of the most advanced civilisation, combined with all the scenery and association of primitive country beauty . . . Architecture has made them beautiful and sanitary science has made them healthy . . ."
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Though in need of an update, the green of Gonzaga College’s playing fields to the rear give Misterton an enduring element of country beauty.
Misterton’s 232sq m (2,500sq ft) floor area includes six bedrooms, two reception rooms, kitchen and bathroom. The rear garden’s enclosing red brick walls, trees, lawn, shrubbery and nursery house retain an unalienable feel of its origins. Sherry FitzGerald is asking €1.695 million for the private treaty sale.
Drawingroom
In 1954 Dr Bart and Eileen Ramsay left Letterkenny and moved into Misterton to raise their six children.
One of those children remembers how the red-carpeted, ornately painted drawingroom was forbidden to children, the passageway forever filled with bikes, an aunt playing the piano at Christmas, the laughter and Douglas Alexander watercolours.
“We really lived in our home and it’s hard to let it go,” she says.
The curve of the tower makes for an interesting bay window in the front-facing drawingroom, where there is a high, art nouveau fireplace in carved wood. The ornate ceiling plasterwork is dramatically mirrored in the rear livingroom where it is painted brown on a white background.
The fireplace is marble with a brass canopy, a wall-wide window overlooks the rear garden and a decoratively panelled door leads to a tiled exit porch. The surprisingly small kitchen needs modernising.
Five of the six bedrooms have fireplaces; four are on the second floor (together with the bathroom), two are on the top floor.
Original, rose garland wallpaper in the main bedroom is very special.
