Country feel in Rathmines home

A villa-style Victorian house at the Rathmines end of Rathgar Road has country roots, says Emma Cullinan.

A charming villa-style Victorian house in Rathgar Road is for sale by private treaty through Gunne, with a price of €2.45 million.

At the Rathmines end of the road, this two-storey house has a redbrick first floor over a white rendered base with huge sash windows facing the front, giving the house the good proportions and human scale of this style of architecture. Inside, these proportions and period features make this a roomy, comfortable home.

The interior decoration is in keeping with the age of the house and is true to the owner's country roots, with its striped and fleur-de-lys wallpaper, reclaimed-timber and brick kitchen units on a terracotta-tile floor, and period-style bathroom fittings. The tall sash windows, large doorways and high ceilings enable the use of dark timber floorboards and a classic maroon painting scheme in the hallway without the area becoming too dark.

The large east-facing front room, with two deep windows, runs across the width of the house. To the rear, overlooking the garden, are three rooms including a toilet with bevelled sink and striped wallpaper. Next to this is an office, which could be a bedroom. This has a cast-iron fireplace, as does the larger bedroom beside it. A tall cupboard on the stair return has shelving and has been known to store a family quota of skis.

Downstairs the main bedroom, to the front of the house, has polished timber floors and cast-iron fireplace. A small en suite has a nicely tiled floor which runs over a small lip into the shower area. The bedroom beside this, also with cast-iron fireplace and timber flooring, is next to a compact bathroom. This has period-style fittings although the bath has 21st century jets in it.

The kitchen, with access to the garden, is in a cosy country-style. The 90ft long garden continues this theme, with its apple tree (a feature of many houses in Rathgar apparently) set in a large lawn with shrubs, roses, rosemary, campanula, and fuchsia, among other plants.

With the house being set back from the road - separated by a gravelled area that can park up to four cars - it could, indeed, feel as if you were living in the country despite being so close to the centre of town and a clutch of good primary and secondary schools.