Old world Rathmines redbrick in need of surgery for €2.595m

One of the owners of number 15 Palmerston Road recalls this most coveted of addresses when it was still paved in cobblestones.

Her family has lived in the house since 1948 where her doctor father held his medical practice using the formal drawing room as the waiting room for patients. Its decorative plasterwork, a mirror image of that in the dining room, interconnecting rooms with matching marble fireplaces with tiled inserts, must have helped distract patients from their woes.

The classically decorated rooms, painted a deep red, have original timber floors with a made-to-measure rug fitting the drawing room floor perfectly and reflecting its fine proportions which include ceiling heights of 12 feet and windows that are eight feet tall, allowing light to stream in.

Built in 1860 the house offers more than just good bones. It has a generous side return, that is set over an arch that gives the property vehicular rear access.

The kitchen, situated in one of the rooms on this return, to the left of the hall is accessed via a set of steps. Small but dual aspect it allows the owners to use the garden level as a two-bedroom self-contained flat that has direct access to the garden. A small study to the rear, where the ceiling height is rather low, is where the doctor had his surgery.

There is a small but bright dual aspect sitting room on the return with three bedrooms on the first floor, two of these are good size doubles, the third, a small double, is used as the master’s dressing room.

The family bathroom, which was recently refurbished, is on the return and is accessed off an ante room where the fourth bedroom of the main house a dual aspect double, accessed via a set of steps, is also situated.

The layout, while rambling, has an innate charm that kids will love and extends to 393sq m/ 4230sq ft.

Garden level

Where the property needs work is at garden level, where some of the rooms in the two-bedroom flat have low ceiling heights and, given the vogue for installing the kitchen at this level, will require the next owner to excavate down to improve the height levels, a costly business.

The west-facing garden, set out as several distinct spaces and bordered by cut stone walls extends to 120 feet and is beautifully old-fashioned with double doors out to it from the flat’s living room and kitchen as well as from the main house, via a timber stairs.

The garden can also be accessed from side entrance, meaning the next owner could explore the prospect of building to the rear, subject to the necessary planning permission.

The property is asking €2.595million through agents SherryFitzGerald, which is also selling No 6, a similar style of property with five-bedrooms and measuring 277sq m / 2980sq ft.

Number 17 recently sold through agents DNG for €2.7million, according to the property price register. The same agent is selling number 84, a property set out in three units that is asking €1.5million and number 63, a two-storey over basement set out in nine units,165sq m /2860sq ft, which as asking €2million.