Address: 10 Gulistan Cottages, Rathmines, Dublin 6
Price: €525,000
Agent: Mullery O’Gara
View this property on MyHome.ie
In an Irish Times callout conducted earlier this year, readers were asked if they had a preference for a house or an apartment when it came to home ownership. Unsurprisingly, most opted for a house.
So, first-time buyers with a budget for a standard apartment in the capital might just have their heads turned by a two-bedroom cottage in Rathmines. Coming on the market with a guide price of €525,000 through Mullery O’Gara, number 10 Gulistan Cottages is a pretty good option for a first home.
For that price, new owners would be purchasing a property in good condition with a B3 energy rating in a really good location. The other benefit of having a home with your own door is that you’re not liable for the management fees that come with living in a shared building, which can run at over €1,000 a year in Dublin complexes.
The Rathmines cottages, which were originally built in the 1890s to house firemen working at the Rathmines station, tend to sell well when they come on the market. Recent sales include number 45, which was in need of modernisation and sold earlier this year for €420,000. Numbers 44 and 57 sold last year for €550,000 and €564,000 respectively, and also came to the market fully renovated.
Open-plan ground floor 
Livingroom 
Kitchen
Number 10 sold for €360,000 in 2019 and was fully remodelled and modernised in 2022. Now with a floor area of 53sq m (570sq ft), it might be on the smaller side, but it has everything that a new homeowner might require following the big renovation.
The front door opens into the open-plan ground floor. The design is clever and allows for each space to breathe, with the livingroom on one side and the kitchen cleverly hidden behind an open-ended wall with a fireplace at the centre.
The kitchen is fully fitted and has a door out to a west-facing courtyard. There is also a bedroom on this floor with an en suite bathroom. Upstairs, within the converted attic space is a second bedroom and a bathroom.
The colour scheme throughout has been kept neutral and everything has been finished to a high standard such as the herringbone floor, green bathroom tiles and shutters on the front sash windows.
Downstairs bedroom 
Upstairs bedroom 
Bathroom
The B3 energy rating is down to the installation of double-glazed windows as well as a new air-to-water heating system and underfloor heating.
The cottage is located off Upper Mountpleasant Avenue, halfway between Rathmines and Ranelagh. Public transport is well catered for with the Luas at Ranelagh and Dublin Bus routes from Rathmines within a few minutes’ walk. There is also a pedestrian pathway from Gulistan Cottages providing quick access to the Swan Centre in Rathmines.