Great restoration at sunny Rathgar villa asking €2.2 million

Glyndwr in Rathgar is a well proportioned five-bedroom house, with a meticulous rear garden in one of Dublin’s prettiest suburbs

The unusually named Glyndwr at 33 Garville Avenue in Rathgar in Dublin 6 is a villa-style detached house in walk-in condition for sale by Lisney for €2.2 million.

Built in 1845, it is one of three matching houses on the road. They were constructed just before the Victorian building boom really took off in the southside suburb when demand from the emerging Protestant middle class for comfortable but grand homes within easy reach of the city centre led to the development of large, two-storey-over-basement houses on the newly laid-out roads.

ExpandAutoplay

Image 1 of 4

Three of a kind: built in 1845, 33 Garville Avenue is one of three matching houses on the road, with an unusually large garden for the Dublin 6 suburb

By the late 19th century so many Catholic servants were working in the chilly basements of these houses that the grand and imposing Church of the Three Patrons on Rathgar Road was built to serve this growing congregation and was soon nicknamed the “the servants’ church”.

The builder of 33 Garville Avenue, however, looked back to a more formal Georgian style when planning the house. It’s one of those perfectly proportioned villas, with four large rooms at hall level and four matching rooms below, with a return that would originally have housed a small scullery.

That two-storey return was extended by a previous owner about 20 years ago, and now the house has five bedrooms, four reception rooms and an eat-in kitchen – and 350sq m (3,775 sq ft) of space.

Most unusually, too, for the Dublin 6 suburb, it has a particularly large garden that affords a great deal of privacy.

The house stands on a third of an acre and its present owner is passionate about gardening, so both the 33m back garden and the front garden have been meticulously planned and beautifully planted.

The present owners bought just over 10 years ago when they returned from abroad, and their work restoring, renovating and particularly decorating the house was influenced by its history.

The two rooms on either side of the wide reception hall, one a formal living room, the other a dining room have the usual period features, including fine fireplaces and cornice work and tall sash windows but are now complemented by Cole and Son wallpaper.

Wallpaper from this company, known for beautiful historical prints, is used to great effect in several other rooms, too.

The two back reception rooms are less formal. One is used as a family room, the other a home office.

The kitchen, lined with granite-topped, painted timber units, is in the hall floor return and so has no direct access to the outside – instead a timber staircase leads down to the garden.

It does, however, have a wall of glazed sliding doors and a terrace, a south-facing sun trap, looking out over the garden. Also in this return is a family bathroom with period-style fittings.

The five bedrooms, all large doubles, are downstairs in the spacious and high-ceilinged ground-floor level.

The one directly under the kitchen has glazed doors opening out on to the garden and an en suite shower room. One of the four other bedrooms also has a large en suite, a full-sized bathroom, recently refurbished with travertine marble flooring and wall tiles, period-style fittings and underfloor heating. There is access to the outside at ground level.

The gardens are lovely, with several patio areas paved with Indian sandstone directly outside the house and a large lawn bordered with shrubs and trees. Beech hedging provides privacy, particularly for the bedroom at ground level in the return, and also helps divide the garden into sections. A garage to one side could be converted into extra accommodation.

The front garden was replanned and landscaped by the current owners who wanted a woodland feeling to provide year-round colour and privacy, and there are also several large beech trees which were planted in the distant past.

There is off-street parking for several cars and electric gates provide further privacy.