Smooth turnaround on lofty Dun Laoghaire terrace for €1.795m

A refurbished five-bed house near the top of York Road in Dún Laoghaire is the second on a terrace of four-storey over garden level Victorian redbricks built in the 1860s to come on the market in just over a month. The owners of No 23 Cambridge Terrace bought their home in August 2011 for €545,000 and oversaw its transformation from a property set in four flats into a comfortable family home.

A year later they moved into the house, a protected structure: period features such as sash windows, working shutters, elaborate cornicing and coving were restored or replaced. The house wasn’t extended but the garden level was gutted, says the owner, and turned into a large open-plan kitchen/living room with underfloor heating. The house was insulated and two combi-boilers installed, giving hot water on demand.

Now the 302sq m (3,250sq ft) five-bed – with views from the top floors over rooftops to Dublin Bay – is for sale for €1.795 million through Knight Frank. Its end-of-terrace neighbour, No 21, a refurbished and extended house about 98sq m (1,000sq ft) larger, went for sale in August for €2.295 million.

The terrace of eight houses near the junction with Tivoli Road, with distinctive wooden canopies over the front doors and dormer windows, was built in the 1860s beside the Presbyterian church on York Road, reportedly as homes for Scottish engineers working in Dún Laoghaire. York Road marks the boundary between Dún Laoghaire and Monkstown.

Two interconnecting reception rooms open off the left of the hall: both have elaborate cornicing, centre roses and marble fireplaces. A few steps down at the end of the hall is a large utility room with a small office off it. A door from the utility opens into the garden at the side, via outside steps with a restored wrought-iron banister.

There’s access to the front and back of the house from the garden-level kitchen/living room. It’s smart modern space painted white with grey kitchen units and pale grey tiled floor; its wide island unit has a polished granite top and a raised walnut breakfast bar. The dining area opens into a sheltered back patio, with steps leading up from here to the back garden. There’s an understairs toilet at the back of the house as well as small playroom.

Upstairs are two bedrooms and a smart family bathroom on the first floor and three more bedrooms on the top floor with another family bathroom – the owners aren’t fans of en suites. The large main bedroom, painted a pale peacock blue, looks over the rooftops of Monkstown’s De Vesci Terrace towards Dublin Bay. The three bedrooms upstairs are all smaller doubles and all, like the two bedrooms below, have fitted wardrobes.

The back lawn, bordered by granite walls, has another patio area at the end with a brick pizza oven built by one of the owners. A large three-car garage at the bottom of the garden opens on to Knapton Lane, accessed from Knapton Road in Monkstown.