Contemporary Rathmines home in well-preserved Victorian shell for €1.595m

This four-bedroom semi on a quiet road in Rathmines is a contemporary home in a preserved and protected Victorian shell. It was separated into five bedsits when the owners bought it for €795,000 in 2015, according to the Property Price Register. All the work, including rewiring, reroofing, replumbing and replastering, was done under the expert eye of architect Adrian Hill in line with planning permission.

During the build, which took nine months, original features were rearranged around the Ber-exempt house and the ceiling roses, coving and flooring were redone. Slimlite double-glazed glass was placed in all the windows and, for the walls, a German technique was used to insert insulation under the dado rails, resulting in a much warmer house.

The Legrand heating system with underfloor heating downstairs and radiators upstairs is so efficient, the owner says, “in six years I have never turned the heating on, it does it all itself”.

Interconnecting drawing and diningrooms are dual aspect, with original shutters on a fine bay window overlooking the street and French windows opening out to the garden. The interiors are contemporary, considered and perfectly determined. Both owners have a good eye for design, from the Little Greene paint colours – Dark Lead in the reception rooms and French Grey in the hall and kitchen – to the carefully chosen tiles in the reclaimed fireplaces, the limewashed floors to the dramatic lights sourced, like much of the furniture and fittings, from Lost Weekend in Dún Laoghaire.

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The hall has an understairs storage closet, which houses all the tech controls of the house, a guest WC with a shower, and Rimadesio Italian doors that the architect recommended.

These semi-opaque doors give way to a stunning kitchen/dining space with a concealed utility, a large stainless-steel covered island, Silestone counters, dark units and a poured concrete floor.

A wall of glass runs the length of the kitchen, and when the pocket sliding doors are fully retracted, it feels like the outside has come in. “The light is incredible, when the sun is shining, margarita in your hand. It’s a great space to hang out with friends in the evenings; a complete suntrap.” With its cedar cladding, tall screens of bamboo and built-in benches, the west-facing garden has an undeniable Balearic vibe. There’s a covered passage at the side which serves as a shed.

There are four bedrooms upstairs and a family bathroom on the return with a huge stone bath, and a guest bedroom currently doubling as a study.

The principal bedroom is on the first floor, which is quiet and serene, painted in Hicks’ Blue by Little Greene, another bedroom with a bay window and ochre marble fireplace and a fourth bedroom kitted out as a walk-in wardrobe.

“We never thought we would move from here, this was supposed to be our forever home,” says the owner. But this pair, firmly hooked on the high of renovations, have their eye on another project and are also moving for family reasons. They will miss the calm of the tree-lined street linking Belgrave Road and Castlewood Avenue and having all the amenities and shops of Rathmines on the doorstep.

Number six Cambridge Road, which extends to 176sq m (1,895sq ft), is on the market through Sherry FitzGerald, seeking €1.595 million.