Fontenoy classic in Phibsborough for €535,000

With the Royal Canal’s linear park, Blessington Basin, Broadstone Community Gardens and proximity to the city centre, a large part of the Stoneybatter/Phibsborough/old Grangegorman area has become hugely desirable in recent years.

Fontenoy Street, central to all of it, is a case in point; a street of villa-style Victorian redbricks with cachet, charm, community and all of the above named facilities nearby.

Along with its neighbours, 17 Fontenoy Street was built in the 1870s at the behest of Sir John Arnott for Broadstone Railway workers. Named for the 1745 Battle of Fontenoy, it has a long-standing creative hub pedigree; James Joyce lived in No 44 for a short while.

Agent DNG is asking €535,000 for No 17, a house with two bedrooms, attic conversion, sittingroom, open kitchen/diningroom, two bathrooms and 96sq m (1,033sq ft) floor area.

A rear south-facing kitchen garden is delightfully planted with rosemary, oregano, thyme, parsley and more, there is an enclosed garden to the side and a wonderful cottage garden to the front.

“In bits” and with just two rooms when the vendors bought, they “pulled it apart, back to the bare brick” and, working themselves and helped by friends, “totally turned it over during the years”.

Second bathroom

They converted and put a third bedroom into the attic. They added a second bathroom, moved bedroom walls to maximise light, put window lights over every door, added a new, bespoke kitchen where the old one had been to the rear.

A large rear bathroom has a free-standing Victorian bath, separate shower and window over a decking area. French doors from the kitchen make the most of this view.

The ceiling in the front sittingroom, lowered to give height in overhead rooms, has had cornicing replaced. An original cast-iron fireplace has a wood-burning stove and the sash window has also been replicated and replaced.

Both bedrooms on the return have 13ft high ceilings. A bathroom has a shower and Velux, and the attic space is the width of the house and has an arched ceiling, two Velux and office space.