Classic Victorian house with light and airy interior on D4’s Pembroke Road

Address: 42 Pembroke Road, Ballsbridge, Dublin 4

Price: €2,900,000

Agent: Sherry FitzGerald

With its classic Victorian facade and sweeping granite staircase entrance, 42 Pembroke Road (Ballsbridge, Dublin 4) looks like it’s straight out of a bygone era in Dublin. But on entering the three-storey-over-basement period home, built in the 1830s, you realise it has a distinctly Scandinavian feel and although it retains period qualities, it’s quite modern.

“I’m Swedish, so it was important to me that the house was bright and airy and full of light,” says one of the owners. She and her Irish husband bought the six-bedroom house in 2006 as a home for them and their four children.

“It was in bad condition when we first purchased it,” she says. “We blew out everything inside and carried out a complete renovation.”

They worked with a conservation architect from RKD to restore the period features, including the sash windows and the window shutters and the coving and ceiling roses.

Spanish handmade tiles were imported and craftsmen from Spain came over to install them. The woodwork, including the wardrobes, was designed by Kvänum Stockholm.

“The furniture came from Sweden and also from antique stores in Dublin,” she says. The textiles, lighting, rugs and carpets were sourced from Kasthall in Stockholm.

Throughout the house, wide-beam oak flooring and doors were installed and underfloor heating added to some of the rooms.

There are five double bedrooms, one of which is the main bedroom which has an en suite and a dressingroom. There’s also a smaller bedroom.

The property faces south and you can see the Dublin Mountains in the distance. It has a paved garden with a shed and garden furniture at the back. It is about a 30-minute walk from Grafton Street.

“I would regularly walk into town to shop,” says the owner. “It was handy, too, for my husband who worked in the city centre.”

“It’s a beautiful house,” she adds. “What’s really lovely is that there’s no house opposite it – just trees and a view of Wellington Road and you can see this lovely vista from the drawingroom.”

In recent years, it’s been let out to tenants as the family have been living abroad.

“Our children are grown-up and living abroad now,” she says. “It makes sense to sell it, although naturally we’re a little sad to say goodbye.”

Extending to 347sq m (3,735sq ft), the house is now for sale, with an asking price of €2.9 million, through Sherry Fitzgerald.