The first person to live in number 21 Erne Street Upper, which connects Pearse Street and Lower Grand Canal Street in Dublin 2, was a coal merchant. This, according to the current owner, urban planner and historian Anthony Abbott King, shows how, after the building of the Dublin and Kingstown Railway in 1834, some less-fancy parts of the city opened up to the middle classes. With plots more affordable, builders went wide and shallow rather than tall and narrow to create terraces of double-fronted houses that, in the case of this section of Erne Street, were one room deep.
Built before 1847, and depicted on the Ordnance Survey map of that date, number 21 has been in the Abbot King family since 1992 and, having lived there on and off and rented it out for the past two years, Anthony has undertaken a couple of restoration jobs, in 2011 and 2019, that make the most of its Georgian features while bringing it up to date. The rather low BER of E1, he says, is due to his having opened up some fireplaces and retained the single-glazed, six-over-six sash windows, as well as the unalterable expanse of exterior walls.
The 120sq m (1,292sq ft) house is presented in thoughtful and gracious order, with calm luxury in the considered decor, the carefully chosen furniture, the simple lines of the kitchen and two bathrooms, and the heavy linen curtains by Sally Armstrong. To the left off the hall is the kitchen with a smart Smeg stove, built-in appliances, off-white units below the counter, and shelves above. The original shutters line the window and Abbott King confesses to “vandalising” them by cutting them halfway to form a kind of half-door for privacy from passers-by. Even in this modern space, there’s room for antiques, with a Dublin Arts and Crafts wardrobe, decorated with animal paintings and inset tiles, fitting perfectly into a recess.
Across the hall is a comfortable, wooden-floored living room, also fronting the street, with a stove in the fireplace. On the upper floor, two double bedrooms (one currently used as a sitting room) mirror this plan, with the added advantage of being dual-aspect and drenched in morning and evening sun.
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The two stone-floored bathrooms are above each other in the return that Abbot King says a builder added when he bought a section of the terrace in the 1980s. The central stairs wind down past these to the two lower double bedrooms, of which one faces the street and the other looks out to the east-facing back garden.
This is accessed down some steps beside the bathroom and feels quiet despite being right in town, close to the railway and adjacent to the extended Savvi credit union building. There is potential out here, subject to planning permission, to add a sunny living room – though that carries a risk of underusing the beautiful original rooms. Number 21 Upper Erne Street is for sale through Owen Reilly with an asking price of €850,000.
