What lies behind this deceptive Dublin 8 terrace?

Just beyond St James’s Hospital on Mount Brown, connecting St James’s Street to the Old Kilmainham Road, is a row of terraced houses named Faulkner’s Terrace. It comprises a mix of housing stock, including two-storey redbrick homes with south-facing gardens, some similar sized houses built about 20 years ago and a row of single-storey cottages, of which number 1 is the end-of-terrace property.

From the outside it looks like a small artisan dwelling, but inside the C2 Ber-rated house extends to a very substantial 150sq m/1,615sq ft with more than two storeys to the rear in a villa style.

Situated on the street opposite the children’s hospital construction works, the house is beside a busy traffic throughway that is fairly audible in the front room, now one of three double bedrooms. But the rest of the property feels like it has been transplanted far from the madding crowd of Dublin 8, just a 20-minute walk from Dame Street.

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The layout meanders into a light-filled livingroom running the width of the property, with an open fireplace and a glass wall and double doors opening out to a sunroom. This is essentially a yard that is enclosed under a vaulted glass roof rising to more than 4m high. It’s a fantastic room that looks better in reality than in the promotional images.

Beyond this again is a large kitchen cum diningroom whose double doors lead out to a large decked terrace and frame a gorgeous vista. The long garden – more than 20m in length – stretches down to a mature acer where timber steps lead up to another terrace overlooking the river Camac as it flows to the rear of the property. The terrace is set above a garden house currently used for storage but which could easily work as a home office or studio.

Lush gardens

The view from this raised deck is of the lush gardens on the opposite riverbank. The water levels are currently low, and bathed in western sun the deck makes a great spot to retire to with a book and a glass of wine at the end of a working day.

The kitchen has smart handleless units and laminate oak counters by Kube, with a utility and full bathroom off it. Stairs from here lead up to villa level, where there are two bedrooms that share a bathroom. The main bedroom overlooks the north-facing garden, while the second bedroom is lit only by a rooflight.

The property is seeking €500,000 through agent Owen Reilly.

Next door, number 2, is also for sale through agent Felicity Fox. Measuring 86sq m/926sq ft, it is seeking €375,000 and is a blank canvas in that nothing has been done with the rear garden.