With its pretty facade, Lawn View, a four-bedroom terraced house in the village of Enniskerry, Co Wicklow, looks like it’s straight out of a fairy tale.
Its handcrafted decorative bargeboards, fascia, soffits and finials have been retained, as has the original elliptical-headed front door, which has decorative brass hardware and traditional frosted-glass coach lamps on either side.
Its Victorian front was partly what attracted the current owners, a retired couple from Dublin and Wicklow, when they bought it in 2018. They had recently returned from Long Island in the US, where they had lived for 18 years.
The house was built in 1860 as part of the Powerscourt Estate. It was an alms house, a charitable dwelling where older people or those in financial need could reside. It later became a bookshop and gallery.
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The current owners have modernised and extended the home. They hired a conservation architect, and applied for planning permission. “We reconfigured the interior and added a two-storey extension,” one of them says. “We were very pleased with the outcome,” he adds. “It was beyond our expectations.” It now has an A energy rating.
Despite the work they have done, the couple are now downsizing and placing Lawn View on the market with DNG Bray, seeking €1.195 million.
The entrance of Lawn View opens to a hallway with a black-and-white chequered tiled floor with doors to a sittingroom on one side and a diningroom on the other. It leads to a spacious open-plan kitchen/dining/livingroom which has a vaulted ceiling and double doors with windows to the rear.
This is a comfortable, airy room that is south-facing and flooded with light. It opens to a first-floor patio with garden furniture that overlooks a terraced back garden. “It’s very private and a lovely place to sit and relax. We use it throughout the summer,” he says.
Although it’s been modernised, period features, including brass hardware, architraves, window shutters, wall sconces, some doors, ceiling roses and Victorian fireplaces, have been retained.
The interior is in pristine condition. The walls throughout have been painted in neutral colours such as cream or white, and combine well with the wooden floorboards and the cream, white and blue furnishings.
Although the home does not have a parking space, the owners say one is easy to find, especially in the evening. Lawn View is just down the road from the village square and is also within walking distance of Powerscourt Estate and Gardens.
