Address: 73 Leinster Road, Rathmines, Dublin 6
Price: €2,850,000
Agent: Sherry FitzGerald
View this property on MyHome.ie
“Oh, the one with the lights,” a friend remarked to the owners when they told her they had purchased number 73 on Leinster Road in Rathmines, Dublin 6. That was because, at night, the lights hanging from the home’s lofty ceilings shine like beacons through its grand sash windows.
Number 73 Leinster Road dates to the mid-1800s and, having undergone extensive modernisation before the current owners bought it in 2018, the house showcases contemporary design while paying homage to its Victorian roots. The owners were told the two-storey-over-garden-level houses on Leinster Road were built to house officers from nearby Cathal Brugha Barracks, with houses on the opposite road built to a lower height so as not to obstruct views of the Dublin Mountains.
Extending to 326sq m (3,509sq ft), this elegant four-bedroom semidetached home is on the market through Sherry FitzGerald, seeking €2.85 million. It is Ber exempt.
Set back from the road beyond a generous gravelled driveway, with space for up to four cars, the family most commonly use the garden-level entrance, through which you enter a small hallway that opens into the vast space of the kitchen and dining area.
One of the bold design moves the current owners made was to paint the units of the Andrew Ryan kitchen black, and the space is light and airy enough to carry it off. There is underfloor heating beneath porcelain floor tiles which flow into the dining space to the rear; it has a large rectangular roof light and is surrounded by grid glazing on all sides, creating a connection with the garden.
The couple who own the home met in Dublin and then lived in Australia, where one of them is from, before returning to Dublin when their children were aged between five and 10. As they were a little bereft to leave their home with a swimming pool in Australia, the children were promised an equally entertaining garden on Leinster Road, which their parents duly delivered, installing a tree house, complete with a slide and swings.
The children became pals with the grandchildren of the owners next door and so they arranged to build their treehouse adjacent to theirs to facilitate elaborate games and endless fun, especially during the long days of the Covid pandemic.
An original stone wall is the backdrop of the patio area and also conceals a storage shed. A long, arched alcove provides further sheltered storage space and access to the front of the house, while, a rear code-secured gate provides access to Grosvenor Lane.
Back indoors, a sittingroom sits to the front of the ground floor, with a beautiful marble fireplace veined with dusty shades of green. Also on this level is a well-equipped utility room and a shower room.
The first floor, the hall level, puts the period grandeur of the property on full display, with its stunning entrance hall boasting high ceilings adorned with elaborate ceiling cornicing and roses, along with two statement pendant light fittings. The eye is drawn down the arched hallway to a substantial arched window with stained glass surround to the rear.
Entrance hall 
Kitchen/diningroom 
Kitchen 
Dining area
The first reception room is a livingroom on the right off the hallway with a dual frame of ceiling cornicing. The substantial second reception room sits down the hall to the right with a dual aspect. Although the room is now staged for sale, the owners used it as a comfortable family room with a TV to make the most of it, rather than keeping off it limits for special occasions. A home office, a bootroom and a versatile room with storage and a sink, referred to as a butler’s pantry, complete the floor.
The first floor is home to two fine double bedrooms as well as the en suite main bedroom. The entrances to these rooms retain the original Victorian doorheads. The main bedroom sits to the front, and the owners’ favourite spot in the house is sitting on the bed there looking out to the copper beech trees that line the road, currently getting ready to sprout their leaves.
The en suite shower room is spacious, with the shower inset into the wall; it features twin sinks with a marble and brass design scheme. A fourth bedroom is accessed up another flight of stairs with a glass-floor landing so as not to impede the light or view of the natural arch of the wall.
The owners have loved this area, with their now teenage children able to cycle and take public transport to get around, and have moved to a new-build home nearby, offering this fine period home for sale to prospective new custodians.
Garden-level livingroom 
Dual-aspect drawingroom 
Main bedroom 
En suite shower room 
Back garden 
Rear of house and patio