RTÉ Set Designer’s Picture Perfect Railway Cottage in Inchicore Sells for €505,000

Entering 15 Inchicore Terrace South feels like walking onto a meticulously prepared TV set. A bright, open-plan design nicely spotlights original period features to suggest an ideal urban starter home for an up-and-coming professional young family.

And that’s probably because the vendor is one of Ireland’s leading TV production designers, RTÉ’s Fiona Egan, who is also behind many of the backdrops we’ve been watching for years on our TV screens, from Fair City to Winning Streak.

“With Winning Streak, the set design depends on what ideas the producer and director have in mind and we all work together on them,” she says. “In Fair City, it depends on the character who lives in the houses you’re designing. You’ve got a biography and work from that within a budget.”

When Fiona bought this house 20 years ago with her late husband Reynald Masson, she drew on her set design expertise to realise the potential of what was a very basic property with an outside loo.

“My experience was definitely useful in reimagining the space,” she says. “Downstairs it was three small rooms. We broke through to join two rooms together and added on to the living room on the left so they all became linked in a much bigger, friendlier space.”

Reimagining the Space

A handy tip is to try living in the house for a while to get a feel for it, says Fiona, as she did. She then moved in for a while to get to know the space — and only then did she know what they wanted. “We had lived there for a couple of years and realised that it was just too small.

“We added a little extension, which changed everything [along with knocking several walls]. There was also an outside lean-to toilet, which we moved upstairs.” This left two double bedrooms and one large bathroom on the first floor.

She also delved into the house’s back-story and character — just as she would with a TV series. And nothing defines the character of Victorian homes as much as their fireplaces which she was careful to retain. “The original fireplaces really are beautiful. They’re part of the character and history of the house that I loved when we bought it.”

The bright and understated modern decor makes a main feature of these fireplaces in the dining and reception rooms, while a smaller one is retained in an upstairs bedroom.

Both wet and dry rot were issues in the original building. But a thorough renovation included injecting the walls with damp-proofing and installing insulation. “We even found all the receipts from 20 years ago in the attic for the BER guy,” Fiona says.

A Modern Touch

The extension has turned what was a small back garden into a courtyard, albeit one bounded by its own ‘feature’ — a high cut-stone wall — and with access via a lane at the rear. But the south-facing front garden is generous with a nice pathway leading to front door spanned by a fanlight below an unusual architectural stone entrance arch.

Upon entering the 1,023 sq ft home, the main living area opens to the left, with built-in alcove bookshelves, wood flooring and a sliding patio door leading onto the rear garden courtyard. On the right, the dining area connects to the modern kitchen with features that include a Belfast style sink and a ‘butcher block’ countertop.

Upstairs, there are two spacious double bedrooms, both south-facing with fitted wardrobes. The large rear bathroom is well lit by two windows — one a Velux.

Fiona has moved elsewhere and has been renting out the house for years. However, with the general rent controls now in place, she feels being a landlord is no longer worth the hassle.

The open-plan design makes for nice living spaces but it also means the house has only two bedrooms, which restricts rental income. However, a new owner could restore the all-important third bedroom that would make it a more lucrative rental option — or simply a home big enough for a two-child family. Fiona suggests building a new bathroom upstairs over the existing extension “and then turning the existing bathroom back into a bedroom”.

A Piece of Irish History

The home dates from the 1850s when it was constructed as part of the historic Great Southern and Western Railway Works, which built almost everything that could be made or repaired for trains in Ireland. The Works, as it became known, employed 2,000 workers in its heyday — many specialist tradesmen brought in from the UK — who have been repairing our trains since 1846.

They were mainly housed in around 150 well-made Victorian homes built in the squares and streets outside the gates of the complex that still maintains Ireland’s trains today. The development literally created Inchicore as a district, although it was still known as New Kilmainham in the 1901 and 1911 censuses.

It also played a role in Irish history, making grenades in both world wars and fitting out armoured cars in the War of Independence, when Patriotic workers engaged in sabotage and smuggled out arms for the Old IRA. Although chosen for its proximity to the city, the original site was in the countryside.

The area has been transformed even more since Fiona first moved in 20 years ago. “When we arrived, there wasn’t much of a village but now there’s very cool coffee shops, a lovely playground and a much bigger school five minutes’ walk away. The Memorial Gardens are also really beautiful. It’s really come on and is very close to the city.”

In fact, to get ‘into town’, as locals say, you only have to hop on a Luas, the latest chapter in Ireland’s rich railway history, which appropriately passes through the still-beating heart of its past and present.