Rare auction sale may set new level in D4

DONNYBROOK: €1.3M:49 Eglinton Road, Donnybrook, Dublin 4
Five-bedroom semi which needs updating has 100ft back garden and plenty of car-parking to the front
Agency:Lisney

AUCTIONS HAVE fallen out of favour although in any market, for expediency’s sake as much as anything else, a certain number of properties will end up being auctioned, notably executors’ sales.

This is the case with 49 Eglinton Road – which Lisney will auction on March 26th. The agency has put a realistic AMV of €1.3 million on the spacious five-bedroom semi. The houses on this wide Dublin 4 road were built at various times and so there are many styles from different eras.

This house and its next door neighbour, number 47, were built in 1928 and at the time the matching pair were probably considered modest homes when compared with the enormous neighbouring redbricks. At around 185.7sq m (2,000sq ft) it is large by modern standards and has a family-friendly layout, as well as a 33m (100ft) back garden and off-street parking for a couple of cars in the front garden.

It does require updating and modernisation. For example, the kitchen is still in the original scullery/breakfastroom layout, with old cupboards and fixtures, and the bathrooms could do with updating, but the well-located house has enough space and charm to make up for it.

A special feature is the entrance layout. The smart-looking Edwardian front door – it is extensively glazed so must have been the height of modernity at the time – opens into an inner hall and this in turn opens into a room-sized inner hall which has a tall window and a cast-iron fireplace.

There are two interconnecting reception rooms, joined by sliding doors, and sometime in the past the garage was converted into a downstairs bathroom although new owners might wish to rethink this arrangement.

Upstairs, off a wide and bright landing and on two different levels, are the five bedrooms. All but one are doubles and the main one at the front of the house with its bow window and fireplace is the largest and most attractive.

The identical next door neighbour was on the market in early 2002 and it sold after auction for close to the guide price of €950,000. It also required modernisation and a peek over the wall at its fine extension and landscaped garden gives viewers of number 49 an idea of what can be done to revamp and extend this ideal family home.