Old school house where Strawberry Beds sweep down to the Liffey for €775k

When the owner of a converted national schoolhouse in Dublin’s Strawberry Beds bought it in 1998, his granny was delighted: “She was born in 1916, and went to that national school in 1923; she was over the moon when I bought it, she had very happy memories.”

At the time of purchase the schoolhouse had been empty for about 30 years. It sold at auction for under €200,000 and the owner asked architect Coli O’Donoghue to convert and expand it.

The job took much longer than expected, 18 months from start to finish, and cost around €300,000. Planning regulations in this special amenity area are strict, and Fingal County Council “weren’t crazy about turning it into a residence” says the owner. He was required to keep the original shape, the exterior pebble dash and the plaque which says “Lower Road National School 1900”.

Now the 189sq m (2,037sq ft) four-bed is for sale for €775,000 through Sherry FitzGerald.

Unsurprisingly, the interior layout is unusual, with the entrance set to the right of the main building. The heart of the house is a large double-height open-plan living/dining/kitchen area. The living/dining space is floored with oak and one wall here is painted a deep red; it has a raised open sandstone and brick fireplace with a railway sleeper mantel.

A curved brick-faced breakfast bar divides the kitchen area from the livingroom; it’s topped with black marble, like the countertops. The kitchen is floored with terracotta tiles.

A cast-iron spiral staircase painted azure blue next to a curved wall inset with glass bricks leads up to a mezzanine double bedroom and its large en suite. The bedroom has a timber-panelled roof and Velux skylights (with blackout blinds). The en suite shower room has a porthole window from which there is a view of the river Liffey, just a field away from the property.

There are French windows from the glazed conservatory that links the original house to the extension opening into a decked courtyard patio at the rear. There are two bedrooms in the extension, one en suite and a family bathroom. A third en suite double bedroom is located downstairs in the original part of the house.

The owner of the Old School House says of the area:“It is so picturesque; it’s such a peaceful area, if you had a blindfold on, you wouldn’t say you were in Dublin”.

The Lower Road runs from Chapelizod to Lucan village, about 11km from O’Connell Bridge, and is roughly a 10-minute drive to Castleknock village.