Underneath the arches of Ranelagh’s Luas line is a house with private access to a park, and all the village has to offer on its doorstep
Address: The Gate Lodge, 2A Ranelagh, Ranelagh, Dublin 6, D06W2K4
Asking price: €975,000
Agent: Hunter’s
Anyone who’s ever hung around the southern platform of the Luas station in Ranelagh, Dublin 6, will have noted the landmark building that abuts the pillars and wondered who might live there.
It is a tale of two properties; the original part is a gate lodge to Ranelagh Gardens, itself an enclosed park, secreted off Ranelagh’s main drag.
It includes a duck pond and a bronze statue of Richard Crosbie, Ireland’s first airman.
It was from here that in 1785 Crosbie launched his first manned balloon flight from this address to Clontarf, according to History Ireland. Made by sculptor Rory Breslin.
Parkside, it looks like it could belong to Griselda, the witch in the Hansel and Gretel, with its gingerbread-esque tiled roof and diamond-shaped windows.
Its other entrance is at 2a Ranelagh, on the village’s main street. It was built in 1990, an era that is back in vogue and climbs two levels above the single-storey gate lodge.
Clever use of glazing, including some triangular windows, ensures that all rooms get good light, despite its proximity to the railway bridge and arches.
Inside, it is a sprawling 267 square metres set across three floors and has six to seven bedrooms, depending on how you might want to configure it.
It opens into a large collonaded living room with a staircase sweeping up to the first floor.
The kitchen-dining room is housed in the original cottage.
There’s also an ensuite bedroom with a walk-in wardrobe at this level.
It is on the first and second floors that the layout gets more interesting with the potential to reconfigure some of it as additional living space.
Currently, there are three bedrooms and a bathroom on the first and second floors.
Designed by architect Paul Clinton, and in need of some modernisation, the house adjoins the arches of the tramline, a surviving piece of the old Harcourt Street railway line, which was built in 1859 and included a station in Ranelagh.
This means that from some of the triangular windows and roof lights, you are almost level with the commuters using the Luas.
The property has little by way of outside space.
But it has the grounds of the gardens to enjoy without ever having to mow the grass or weed flower beds.
Hunters Estate Agents is seeking €970,000 for the E1 Ber-rated residence.
