Address: 25 Fitzwilliam Street Upper, Dublin 2
Price: €2,750,000
Agent: Sherry FitzGerald
The lofty Georgian buildings on Dublin’s Fitzwilliam Street Upper are occupied by a variety of businesses, including a dentist, a post-production company and several law offices, as well as the Italian Institute of Culture, located on the east side of the verdant Fitzwilliam Square.
Number 25, however, is one of the few buildings on the street that has been maintained as a private residence since it was constructed, as one of four built together on this stretch by Dublin merchant and manufacturer Richard Williamson circa 1819-1820.
The property has passed through about seven owners and was home to the late Supreme Court judge James Murnaghan, an avid art collector, and his wife Alice, for a large tranche of the 20th century. Upon 25 Fitzwilliam Street Upper being put up for auction in 1999, The Irish Times reported that the late owners’ collection of old master paintings – previously stolen by Dublin criminal Martin Cahill (known as the General) in 1988 and later recovered – were also set to be sold in what the auctioneer described as “the most important house contents sale in Dublin for the past decade”.
This area of Dublin 2 epitomises the concept of old Dublin meeting its modern iteration, where the Georgian architecture of Fitzwilliam Street and its central square sit alongside tech company bases and offices.
The same can be said for number 25 Fitzwilliam Street Upper, which presents as a luxury, modern family home while benefiting from the grandeur of its Georgian heritage. The four-storey-over-basement townhouse was bought in 2015 – for €3 million, according to the Property Price Register – and, following a sympathetic renovation by the previous owner, has been further modernised. In addition, the current owners installed a kitchen to occupy a spacious reception room overlooking the back garden on the first floor.
With the owners’ children having fled the nest, they have moved to a new house nearby, placing this central slice of Georgian Dublin on the market with Sherry FitzGerald, seeking €2.75 million.
Entrance hallway 
Ground-floor reception room 
Second ground-floor reception room
It was penned in this paper’s 1999 article that stepping into the home “is like stepping back in time”, and the sentiment still stands.
Extending to 555sq m (5,975sq ft), the proportions of the rooms are generous throughout and are complemented by high ceilings, elaborate ceiling cornicing, marble fireplaces, restored wooden floors and immense sash windows, through which you need to adjust your gaze to ensure you’re only imagining views of horse-drawn carts ferrying the city’s finest hither and thither.
Beyond the column and arched fanlight-framed doorway synonymous with the period, the entrance hall impresses with granite flooring underfoot. Two interlinked reception rooms occupy the ground floor, with a substantial sash window looking to the street and an even larger one framing the garden to the rear. Now staged for sale, the walls are adorned with the arresting, vivid paintings of Wicklow artist Lucy Doyle. A small “butler’s kitchen” lies beyond that, which had previously been used as the main kitchen of the home.
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Stepping outside and down stairs, the garden is bordered by stone walls and is laid out with a lawn, surrounded by mature trees and planting, and a patio to capture the sun. Back towards the property, a second patio is located down a set of steps. It previously had a plain concrete wall as its backdrop, which the owners soon spruced up by commissioning an MC Escher-inspired mural of the city by Lucretia Moroni, whose trompe l’oeil murals of marble artworks adorn walls in New York’s Central Park.
Back inside, and down a rustic stone staircase, is what would once have been staff quarters and the kitchen; it is now a self-contained living quarters with its own door. Hints to the building’s past are still in situ, such as a row of service bells high on the wall in the hallway and the original cast iron stove forming a decorative feature in what is now a living/dining space to the front. A small modern kitchen with bespoke plywood fittings sits beyond that, as well as a wine cellar. There are also two bedrooms and a bathroom here, thus it could easily be closed off from the rest of the home and rented out on its own.
Back upstairs, a spacious landing on the first-floor return has been cleverly dubbed a reading area by the selling agent as it’s a lovely place to sit, with windows overlooking the garden and a stunning circular lantern roof light overhead. It leads into the study, which enjoys a dual aspect.
The first floor is where the current owners spent most of their time, with a spacious piano nobile enjoying an elevated view of the street to the front and the kitchen/breakfastroom to the rear, complete with a cushioned window seat under the sash window overlooking the garden.
The spacious main bedroom occupies the width of the second floor and is accompanied by a modern and luxurious bathroom to the rear, with a free-standing bath and large step-in shower with marble tiling. There are three further double bedrooms on the top floor, plus a well kitted out utility room and a shower room.
The home’s location speaks for itself, and you can cycle or walk almost anywhere in the city from here. The home has been loved by the owners and their children, who especially appreciated the independence the location afforded them during their teenage years.
Rear patio with MC Escher-inspired mural of Dublin by Lucretia Moroni 
First-floor kitchen/breakfastroom 
Piano nobile drawingroom 
Main bedroom 
Basement living quarters: living/dining area 
Rear exterior 
Back garden