Ranelagh: €1.1m Northcote, a pretty semi-detached house at 21 Sandford Road in Ranelagh, Dublin 6 is expected to top €1.1 million at auction through Lisney on September 20th.
Built in 1880, the house on three floors extends to 186sq m (2,000sq ft) and has five bedrooms. There are two main attractions: the charm of its Edwardian style and a location that has a feeling of living in a true urban environment, rather than a dislocated suburb.
Sandford Road is busy, but the new owner will delight in activity (as well as the convenient advantages of the area) and also take comfort in the quiet aspect to the rear of the house that looks directly over the grounds of Sandford Park School.
This is a city house with no garden at the front but parking for three cars. The Tudor façade is typical of the arts and crafts influence of the time and inside there are extraordinarily pretty details: doors with high panels above the frame, stained glass windows, embossed friezes above the picture rail, cast-iron fireplaces and so on.
The romance of the house starts in the hall with its staircase that opens through the building's three floors. The interconnecting drawing and diningrooms are both of good size but it's the atmosphere of the architecture that is special.
The kitchen/breakfastroom has free-standing units of various kinds that act as an alternative to a fitted kitchen. There is a Rayburn cooker and French doors to the garden. Off the kitchen is a scullery and cloakroom with shower.
On the first floor there are four generous bedrooms. The main bedroom looks to the front and is next to a smaller bedroom that could possibly be converted to an en suite. A bedroom to the back, used by the current owners as an office, has a very large picture window looking over the school grounds. The bathroom is also on this level and, while not particularly big, has potential to be improved.
On the second floor, originally the maid's quarters, is the fifth bedroom and a study that could be a sixth bedroom or converted to an en suite.
The garden to the rear is 22.5 metres (74ft) long and has been divided into two areas; one part lawn, the other planted with trees. Nestled in one corner is an air raid shelter, built during the second World War.
