Ashfield Park is a double row of terraced late-Victorian houses in Terenure. Built in 1895, number 3 Ashfield Park was previously the home of publisher Michael O’Brien, founder of the O’Brien Press. When the current owners purchased the house in 2006, they started an extensive refurbishment.
Number 3 Ashfield Park, a four-bed, four-bath 178sq m (1,915sq ft) period property, now comes to the market through Mullery O’Gara, seeking €1.25 million. It immediately impresses, with a pretty tiled path leading to the navy front door.
The hallway’s white-painted stairs are lit by a skylight. A sittingroom sits to the right, with stripped pine doors, connecting with a smaller reception room behind it that functions as a music room. Timber, double-glazed sash windows are newly installed. The fireplaces in both rooms are original, with decorative tiled inserts.
At the end of the hallway, which has understairs storage and a guest loo, old double doors lead through to the kitchen. They have red panels of glass and were about to be ripped out and thrown into a skip by the builders when the owners got there just in time to save them.
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The old doors are emblematic of a look the owners wanted, a mix of the traditional and modern, and it is fitting they lead through to a new extension, built on to the old kitchen. It angles subtly out into the garden, following the plot of the house. An old lean-to extension was removed and in its place an architect-designed space that benefits from a vaulted ceiling and a series of rooflights.
The kitchen is from the Victorian Kitchen Company and features a pantry, a large timber-topped island and a bank of country-style units running along one wall housing an Aga stove. Many rooms throughout the property feature built-in storage; this adds a rustic aesthetic that sits well with more contemporary finishes.
Doors open on to the back garden, which has a southeast orientation. It is low maintenance, with a wide patio, cedar cladding and a gate opening to a laneway.
There are three bedrooms on the first floor. The main bedroom, in a pace that once comprised two smaller rooms, spans the width of the house, with a feature fireplace and an en suite. A bedroom behind it features sturdy cabinetry and is decorated in a pretty pink.
A smaller bedroom to the rear of the house is perfect as a study. A family bathroom completes the accommodation on this floor; the owners went for a traditional look in the bathroom, with panelled walls, a high-cistern WC and a roll-top, free-standing bath.
On the top floor, the attic has been reconfigured into a bedroom, with Velux windows and an attractive brickwork feature uncovered during renovations. There is also an en suite with shower at this level.
Moving on because they have another renovation project in their sights, the owners have loved living here, citing the kitchen extension as the room where the family gathers. Heating is gas and the Ber is C1.
Ashfield Park is close to Terenure village and to schools, such as Rathgar and Harold’s Cross national schools. Nearby secondary schools include Presentation Community College, Stratford College and Rathgar’s High School.
