Stringer classic with original values in Rathgar for €1.1m

Houses on Rostrevor Road in Rathgar don’t come on the market too often because for most owners, once they move in, they put down roots and stay for decades. And so it is with number 9 – two successive generations of the same family have lived in the redbrick-and-pebbledash semi since the house last changed hands more than 60 years ago. Now it is for sale – by executors – through Lisney seeking €1.1 million.

The sleepy cul de sac is lined on one side of the road with semi-ds, solid family houses built by Thomas Stringer – one of Dublin’s most notable builders – in 1926. The porches have decorative timber trim – a nod to Edwardian style – with more timber trim on the garage and gable. And inside are several features of the period including plain ceiling coving – on the high ceilings – picture rails, panelled doors and fireplaces in most rooms. These will most likely stay – one of the reasons buyers go for Stringer houses is their interior detailing – but new owners are also likely to embark on a significant modernisation project.

The 184sq m (1,980sq ft) house has four bedrooms and a family bathroom upstairs and two reception rooms, a small breakfast room and smaller kitchen downstairs. The fine entrance hall, true to Stringer’s hallmark design, is spacious enough to hold several pieces of furniture.

Layout

While the house has been maintained and updated over the years with new heating and a bathroom renovation, little has been done to change the layout – other than a sunroom added on to the rear reception room – and so new owners will probably seek to extend across the rear to create a large, contemporary eat-in kitchen and family room. There’s certainly enough space: the southwest-facing rear garden is 38m (125ft long), maturely planted and maintained over the years by keen gardeners who also tended a large greenhouse and vegetable plot. The garden backs on to the High School.

There is a garage to the front – a sign that when these houses were built, Stringer was targeting Dublin’s growing middle class who could afford a car – and behind that a passageway with utility rooms. The BER is D2 – not the worst for a house of this vintage but a further sign that this is a house requiring updating.

The agent selling number 9 Rostrevor Road, Michelle Kealy, has already had three “Zoom-throughs” – a walk-through video of the property is on the MyHome site and potential buyers can make a Zoom appointment with her to talk through the video, a workable solution until the restriction on physical viewings of property is lifted.