A Dublin 4 Georgian house, once the home of Seamus Ross jnr of Menolly Homes, is for sale – again.
The detached house at 31 Wellington Place has several times tested the economic law that something is only worth what somebody is willing to pay for it.
In 2008 the impressive house – which had undergone a Celtic Tiger makeover complete with swimming pool in the newly dug out basement – was auctioned with the staggering guide price of €12.5 million.
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It didn’t sell.
It was then for sale by private treaty for €11 million, followed in later years by further price drops with different agents. It has been a corporate let until this year.
Now 31 Wellington Place is back on the market through Hunters for €4.65 million. It's a receiver sale, Grant Thornton having been appointed in March of this year.
The price is around what the Ross family, who were major housebuilders in Dublin during the boom, paid for it in its pre-renovated state in 2004.
There appears to be a different mood among some receivers when it comes to putting a prime distressed property up for sale. For the past few years “a sell as is” approach has been evident, so would-be buyers were frequently faced with the peeling paint, overgrown gardens and general air of desolation that comes when no money has been spent on a big empty house in some time.
"You have to speculate to accumulate," says Bobby Geraghty of Hunters standing under the glass chandelier in the living room of the stunningly made-over Georgian townhouse.
“We’ve seen it work really well recently in several sales where we persuaded the receiver or bank to spend some money doing up the house. Even €1,500 spent on an apartment will make it a more attractive proposition.
It’s difficult to say how much was spent on 31 Wellington Road during the past weeks of intensive work but as it’s a large house with 503sq m (5,414sq ft) and as the work included landscaping front and back gardens, upgrading bathrooms, a top-to-bottom paint job and refurbishment of the swimming pool and sauna it’s fair to assume a makeover bill north of €100,000.
Beautiful proportions
For viewing, it’s also been partially furnished in posh showhouse style with freshly painted grey or putty coloured walls, many beige sofas, inoffensive prints and side tables featuring tastefully bland decorative objects. Its first residents in 1798, who would have filled the house with colour, texture and objects of interest, wouldn’t be impressed.
What it still has is its beautiful Georgian proportions and that era’s symmetrical approach to layout. So on either side of the wide hall are two fine interconnecting rooms. The ones on the right are gracious light-filled living rooms, each with a marble fireplace and the back room opens to the rear garden.
The signs of the massive renovation and extension undertaken by the Ross family are clear in the rooms on the left side which is open-plan – a livingroom to the front, a kitchen in the middle room and a dining area in the glazed-roofed new extension at the rear which further extends to the side for a bright family room.
Black units
The location of the kitchen works well as does its layout. Tall bespoke fitted timber units with countertop space line the walls while a marble-topped island is in the centre. It has a four-door cream Aga and new appliances.
A curious decision was made to update the kitchen units by painting them black. Looking at how downright strange it looks you can almost hear the new owner’s painter sucking his teeth while complaining how difficult it is to kill black paint. There is a utility room off the kitchen that opens out to the front of the house.
A staircase in the extension leads down to the basement which is fitted out like an upscale sports club with a sauna, a small gym, dressing room, relaxation area and an 8m swimming pool with a machine to create a current making it an “endless pool”.
There are four double bedrooms: the largest runs front to back with its own vast bathroom and a dressing room. All have been newly carpeted and the house is ready to walk in to.
The back garden is 22m long while the front garden has parking for about six cars behind electric gates.
