Handsome period home near Herbert Park

DUBLIN 4:HANDSOME late-Victorian redbrick houses near Herbert Park in Dublin 4 were pictured in the Irish Times in the mid-1920s with the rather curious caption " . . . an excellent illustration of what is being done to assist in solving the housing problem".

It’s not clear what kind of problem the writer was thinking of (a shortage of upscale homes for the citizens of the new Republic?) – but the houses were built near Argyle Road, close to the Donnybrook end of Herbert Park, by Crampton, the company whose stamp is all over Dublin’s redbrick suburbs.

Number 16 Argyle Road was built around 1910 and is now for sale for a rather steep €3.5 million through Sherry FitzGerald. The detached house house needs serious refurbishment to turn it into a comfortable modern home.

The 312sq m (3,350sq ft) seven-bed has most of its original fittings, down to the servants’ bell panel in the kitchen along with an old Aga, Belfast-style sink, red floor tiles and retractable ceiling drying rack in the kitchen. And it has trademark Crampton stained glass windows not just in the front door and on two landings, but in panels in some of the bedroom doors too.

While perfectly liveable-in, modern owners will likely want to instal central heating, a new, open-plan kitchen and create en suites and modern bathrooms. Large interconnecting reception rooms at the right of the hall have a bow window at the front, and French doors at the far end opening onto a lawn – which once had a tennis court – that backs onto Herbert Park.

There there are three bedrooms on the first floor and three doubles and a single on the top floor. There are good views over Herbert Park at this level. The front of the house looks up Brendan Road towards Donnybrook.