In walk-in condition, number 448 North Circular Road is a two-bedroom, villa-style property where the layout has been flipped to put the bedrooms downstairs and maximise the light by installing the kitchen and living room upstairs.
Its owners bought it in 2016 for €340,000 when all the “dirty” work had already been done in the late 1990s by the now award-winning architect Eamon Peregrine when he was still an up-and-coming talent working for Buckley Partnership Architects.
Peregrine tore out the property’s innards, opening up its pitched roof to create a vaulted ceiling, and left the vertical and horizontal steel supports needed to hold the building together exposed.
He also left an internal buff brick wall bare to bring in interesting texture to the now open-plan living, dining, kitchen, into which the front door opens directly.
It’s a space that has aged really well, has ceiling heights of 3.8m (12.47ft) at its pitch, and shows the benefits of employing talented professionals on their way up. The open space is dual aspect with the living area set around a cast-iron fire surround and where tri-fold doors in the dining area concertina open to reveal a southwest-facing balcony of about 2.7sq m (8.9sq ft). Glass-balustraded, it is also accessible from the galley kitchen.
The owners upgraded the property installing a new kitchen design by Kube that has laminate countertops.
There is underfloor heating throughout the ground floor where a new floating timber floor has been installed atop limestone tiles that had been laid earlier, so that they could continue to radiate heat while refreshing the aesthetic. The owners also put in a new boiler, tank and pump.
They also replaced the concrete steps to the front employing Jack Cripps of Heritage Stonemasons to install granite ones. The accompanying ironwork was done by Eddie Nelson at Metalcraft.
Downstairs there are two good double bedrooms that share a smartly appointed bathroom where there are rubbed brass fixtures. The back room has tri-fold glass doors that open to reveal a very private terrace of over 11sq m (36sq ft) in size, that has been tiled and landscaped and is bordered by a white painted trellis.
Having availed of the Living City Initiative tax incentive scheme to make these improvements, the owners are now hoping to trade up. They’re looking “for a place with a similar kind of charm but with a few more rooms”.
The 80sq m (861sq ft) property is seeking €475,000 through agent Sherry FitzGerald.
