Strain-built redbrick in sought-after spot

On the market for only the third time in 105 years, this spacious period house on a stylish Glasnevin street needs a bit of work but has lots of pretty details, writes ROSE DOYLE

IF THE Botanic Gardens are the jewel in Glasnevin’s crown then Lindsay Road, just a short walk from the gardens, is definitely one of its gems.

A long, classically elegant road of redbrick Alexander Strain houses, it has aged with style and is as sought after a place to live as it was when Strain built it 1905.

It is more than 50 years since Lourdes, 88 Lindsay Road, Glasnevin, Dublin 9 was last on the market and it arrives now with an asking price of €850,000.

Lindsay Road houses were selling for €80,000 in the late 1980s and by the late 1990s had jumped to €250,000; the recent Lindsay Road sale of a house slightly smaller than Lourdes went for a figure “just shy” of €750,000.

Lourdes is semi-detached, has three levels plus a return, a floor area of 172sq m (1,850sq ft), four/five bedrooms, two reception rooms and a kitchen-breakfast-room.

A 75ft long south-facing rear garden is given privacy by hedging and high evergreens, and there is a railed front garden. Lisney is looking after the private treaty sale.

With the vendors only the second family to have owned Lourdes in its 105 years, most of the original features are intact; it has a pair of particularly grand, marble fireplaces and a winding staircase that would do justice to a minor castle.

There is work to be done: the kitchen is more accurately a kitchenette, the family bathroom needs modernising and so does the decor but Lourdes has been cared for and it shows.

The main entrance is to the side. An addition to the original house, this adds space to the reception hall – all the better to enjoy the neck-craning view of dark wood banisters winding upwards.

The main reception rooms are quite traditional with a bay window to the front and large window overlooking the garden to the rear. Fireplaces in both are of dark, speckled marble with ornate tile insets and both rooms have picture rails, cornicing and panelled doors to match the interconnecting double sliding doors.

Three of the bedrooms are off the landing (the main one with a bay window), a fourth is on the return and the fifth is an original attic bedroom with skylight. The toilet and bathroom (also off the landing) are separate and there is a guest toilet on the ground floor.

Lourdes, 88 Lindsay Road, Glasnevin, Dublin 9

Four/five-bedroom redbrick with 172sq m (1,850sq ft) of space and a 75ft south-facing back garden. While needing some modernisation, the house has retained many of its period features

Agent: Lisney