A period property with a mirror image extension skilfully grafted onto the side by one of Ireland’s first conservation architects makes Sunnyside a large, detached three-bedroom house in Lucan a marriage of old and new.
Clad in Virginia Creeper with keystone detailing and an Arts and Crafts silhouette, Sunnside is a well-monikered house.
It is bright and light-filled, and upon close inspection you will see that the original part of the house has been mirrored in a very sensitively designed extension, by one of Ireland’s first conservation architects, the late Brian O’Connell, who was a family friend of the previous owner who had the work done.
Address: Sunnyside, Old Lucan Road, Palmerstown, Dublin 20, D20 AR22
Asking price: €1,050,000
Agent: McDonald Property
The current owners bought the property in 2015, paying €560,000 for it according to the property price register.
They were charmed the minute they crossed the threshold. The hall is flooded with light from a huge, leaded-glass box window.
The glass was designed by Abbey Stained Glass Studio, the company selected to restore the Harry Clarke window of St Mel’s Cathedral, Longford, after it was destroyed by fire in 2009.
O’Connell was a devotee of Frank Lloyd Wright, and the inclusion of the Arts and Crafts style glazing in the front door, the stairwell window, and internal doors very much chimes with its sylvan setting.
Surrounded by mature trees and specimen shrubbery, it feels very far from urban life, even though it is on the edge of the city.
Off the hall is a living room and the kitchen.
The latter is a tri-aspect space that runs the depth of the property and has plantation shutters framing all its fenestration.
The all-off-white space, which is punctuated by soft neutrals, includes a Belfast-style sink.
It is an all-weather room with a family area set around a wood-burning stove for cosy winter evenings and double doors opening out to the west-facing part of the wrap-around gardens.
The living room leads through to a smaller reception room that is currently used as a playroom.
Off it is a home office and the sunroom, where the only unglazed wall is papered in a pretty pattern and helps to bring the outdoors in.
Originally, the house had four bedrooms.
The current owners merged two of the rooms to give them a luxuriously large space that has led to them being disappointed when on holidays and getting an upgrade to a suite.
McDonald Property is seeking €1.05 million for the C BER-rated house, which extends to 220 square metres.
Liffey Valley shopping centre is just a few minutes’ walk away over a footbridge.
