Monkstown/€900,000: Kate McMorrow views a Georgian house with period detail that needs renovation
Steadily, the elegant listed Georgian houses in Montpelier Parade, Monkstown, Co Dublin are being brought back to their original family use. New to the market with Sherry FitzGerald is number 47, a 232 sq m (2,500 sq ft) three-storey over garden house which is ripe for a family take-over. The agency is guiding €900,000 prior to auction on April 22nd.
One of the first houses on the terrace, number 47 was built for the Viceroy of Dún Laoghaire harbour. A previous resident was author and historian Peter Pearson. The current owner carried out a number of repairs when he moved in about 10 years ago. This involved replacing floor joists and levelling off the slightly listing floors - a tendency of houses on this terrace. He also installed marble mantelpieces of the correct period in all the main rooms and built a timber deck off the diningroom. The house has been rented out in the intervening period and some work remains to be done, hence the relatively low pre-auction guide.
Douglas Newman Good has received bids in excess of €1.35 million for 6 Montpelier Place, a similar house on the next terrace with a full back garden. The front doorway of number 47 is a fine specimen of its era, with decorative plasterwork and a leaded fanlight.
Off the hallway is a bright sittingroom with timber flooring. The grey marble fireplace is inset with patterned Victorian tiles to match the apple green walls. Panelled folding doors lead to the diningroom, where a white marble mantelpiece has a cast-iron inset. The wood flooring continues here and French doors open to a south-facing sun deck. Down a few steps at the back of the hallway is a good-sized kitchen/breakfastroom with pine units and doors to the back garden. A staircase climbs down to the garden level accommodation, where there is a large family sittingroom with fireplace, a guest toilet and a double bedroom.
The formal drawingroom spans the front of the house on the first floor, with three sash windows providing glimpses of the sea between the houses on Monkstown Road. There is a fine white marble chimneypiece and enough space for a grand piano. Behind this is a double bedroom looking over the back garden.
Up another flight on the second floor is a front-facing bedroom with wooden floor, triple sash windows and a cast-iron fireplace. Next to this, the main bathroom is room-sized, with an antique claw-foot bath, brass taps and a pretty low sash window. Directly off this is a sauna and separate shower-steam room. Outside, there is good off-street parking in the communal drive to the front of the house. Steps lead down to a separate entrance to the garden level rooms. The walled south-facing back garden is a fair size, with a raised timber deck, a pond, lawn and mature trees.
