Two Georgian houses in a Regency coating, on a crescent in Clontarf, are for sale at €1.65 million each, writes Rose Doyle

IF YOU'RE interested in history, and fancy it packaged in tall, elegant houses at the centre of a crescent-shaped terrace overlooking a park, then your dream is available, twofold, in Clontarf, Dublin 3, where numbers 13 and 14 Marino Crescent could give the GPO a run for its money.

They date from 1792, when they were built to be the tallest in a crescent of houses made deliberately high by Charles Ffolliot to block the sea views of Lord Charlemont from nearby Marino House. The houses made history as their foundations were excavated: unearthed bones were claimed as remains from the 11th century Battle of Clontarf.

In the 215 years since, they've never been far from the pulse of events: Bram Stoker, who wrote Dracula, was born and lived next door. Number 15 was also home to patriot Harry Boland and, in the 1920s, gave shelter to the Russian crown jewels. The Crescent is also one of the few Georgian crescents built in this country.

With three storeys over garden level, 13 and 14 each have floor areas of 278sq m (3,000sq ft).

Now laid out in eight, two-bedroom apartments and a rear duplex, they would make an investment buy or, given the reassuring amount of plasterwork and Georgian features still intact, could be restored to their original, internal elegance and remade as family homes.

With an asking price of €1.65 million for each house, the private treaty sale is being looked after by Douglas Newman Good.

They will be sold separately or as a pair.

The vendors, who have owned these properties for 14 years, took care not to damage original plasterwork, doors, arches, fireplaces and other period details when dividing the houses into units.

There's another layer of history in the various decorating fashions imposed on these houses. The facades, for instance, were originally redbrick but were sanded and cemented during Regency times. Plastic front windows, a legacy of the 1970s, were replaced by MacNally sash windows which fill the many high-ceilinged rooms with light and give fine views over Fairview Park - once private but now publicly enjoyed.

Both houses have intact, marble fireplaces and granite steps leading past pillars to original front doors with fanlights.

The 200ft rear garden was sacrificed to build mews houses at its end and as a consequence is no more than 40ft long now. The front driveways have been sanded, pebbled and given old railings as gates.

There is off-street parking for six cars.