Late Victorian elegance in Stillorgan, faithfully preserved for €1.495m

Follow winding Stillorgan Park, passing houses of all kinds and sizes, and near the end is a terrace of four tall, redbrick, late-Victorian homes. Very late; they were built in 1901, the year Victoria died. Number 42 elegantly shows off its original frontage at one end and, inside, displays the carefully retained features that make it so much of its time.

This is a house much appreciated by the vendors. Sixteen years in residence, and only the fourth owners since 1901, they’ve added a modern kitchen and sun/family room to the rear, but otherwise have lived faithfully within the original layout. The front door has ornate leaded glasswork and opens to the original tiles of an entrance porch. Inside, ceilings are high, sash windows are numerous, fireplaces are preserved upstairs and down, shutters are functioning and darkly shining banisters curl upwards in an imposing stairwell.

Agent Sherry FitzGerald is quoting €1.495 million for the private-treaty sale. Measuring 229sq m (2,450sq ft), there are five bedrooms, three reception rooms, a kitchen with dining area and a long rear garden.

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Openness

The windows, with fine views through their antique, wavy glass, make for a bright house with a feeling of openness. This is apparent in the adjoining livingroom and diningroom, although the mood couldn’t be more different in each. The front-facing livingroom, where a wide box window has a leaded glass strip and the fireplace is a muted orange colour, has a relaxed feel. The diningroom is a more sober affair, with a fireplace of black marble and an alcove sheltering a door to the garden.

The original range, stately and non-functioning, fills an alcove in the dining area of the efficient contemporary kitchen. The sun/family room opens on to a patio with a small pond and gives expansive views of the garden’s spongy lawn and apple, holly and magnolia trees.

Bedrooms are on the first return and off the first-floor landing. Four have cast-iron fireplaces. There are three parking spaces to the front.