Rambling redbrick in D4

BALLSBRIDGE: €2.75MA rambling redbrick next to Wanderers rugby club has been owned by the same family since the 1950s

THE LAST TIME 63 Merrion Road in Ballsbridge changed hands the asking price was £4,850 – that was in 1955 and the buyers, the Clissmans, who were moving from a flat in Merrion Square, went on to fill the very large redbrick semi-detached house with seven children. At the time big families weren’t that unusual on the road – their next door neighbours had 10 children. Number 63 is once again on the market – this time as an executors’ sale – for €2.75 million through Gunne.

It’s a rambling old house, with 4306sq ft (400sq m), on three levels and eight bedrooms – though new owners are likely to remove one of the partitions and make seven or, depending on their taste for en suites, maybe six good-sized bedrooms. The reception rooms are two fine, interconnecting ones on one side of the very large, square-shaped hall, a third reception room, used for decades as a study, is on the other side of the hall. There is access to the back garden from the back reception room. The kitchen is at the back of the house and the owners built a sunroom off it in order to enjoy their pride and joy, the 40-metre, maturely planted back garden. It backs on to Wanderers rugby club so it’s not overlooked and this is likely to remain the case.

Only one fireplace appears to have been removed over the years, otherwise the important decorative period features are intact, such as matching marble fireplaces downstairs and in the main bedrooms as well as cast-iron versions in other rooms with lovely, art-noveau-tiled insets. A curious period feature is the elaborate antique brass shower enclosure in the cast iron bath. It hasn’t been used for some years – two other modern bathrooms were installed elsewhere. There are various cloakrooms and utility and storage rooms.

The last time the house changed hands it had had a complete makeover by its builder owner, who had done new-fangled things for the 1950s such as installing wash-hand basins in some bedrooms. Now new owners will no doubt carry out a major modernisation, particularly at the back of the house – to make a large, eat-in kitchen. There’s certainly enough garden to extend, subject to planning permission.

There is room to the front for parking for at least four cars – and space for more if new owners forgo the existing lawns and flowerbeds . It’s a busy road so off- street parking in a house this large is important.

63 Merrion Road, Ballsbridge, Dublin 4

Description: Eight-bedroom, 400sq m house with period features and a large back garden

Agent: Gunne