Those of a certain vintage will recall the Northbrook Hotel, a family-run establishment whose bar was situated at garden level. If you’d had one too many you could easily miss the low-key hostelry where a few lost hours could very quickly turn into a lost weekend.
Number 22 Northbrook Road occupies the site of that former late-night boite. One of the oldest hotels in the south inner city and renowned for its pint of Guinness, the property was sold in 2005 for about €3 million by private treaty through Colliers Jackson-Stops. Since then it has been the offices of property development firm Capital D.
At first glance the semi-detached property has the appearance of a fine five-bedroom home, except that it had been in office use, does not have a kitchen and has been helpfully staged for sale by Caroline Irvine Design.
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The property is now being sold by the receiver and is asking €1.95 million through Hunters Estate Agents.
The house retains its fine period features such as ceiling cornicing, centre roses and leaded stain glass. There are sash windows and working shutters throughout, and measuring 436sq m(4,693sq ft) it is very spacious.
The drawing room is a fantastic space. Boasting ceiling heights of 14 feet it is grand but not so big as to feel uninhabitable. The front of the house faces south, so this room will get plenty of sun.
The formal dining room overlooks the back and has lovely proportions. The marble fireplaces and insets throughout are all new. There is also a study at this level that, when compared to the formal rooms of the house, feels small.
There are four bedrooms on the first floor, a master that has another marble fireplace and a sliding door that gives direct access to the bedroom next door, where a serious dressing room could be installed.
There are two more doubles on this floor, none have en-suite bathrooms – the family bathroom is down half a flight of stairs on the return. It is enormous but has been halved to accommodate an office-style sink and kitchen cabinet set-up. The agents are colourfully calling this a dressing-room area.
Bedroom number five is on the garden return. It feels almost pokey when compared to the scale of the first-floor bedrooms but is perfectly adequate and has a guest wc adjacent.
At garden level, the layout isn’t as well defined. The space is colossal with floor-to-ceiling heights of 10 feet and it is currently divided into two areas, one occupying almost two-thirds of the floor.
Back garden
This room has a granite fireplace that is big enough to stand in. It would ideally accommodate a range of some sort but the natural flow is towards the back of the house where a wall of glazing makes the north-facing rear feel really bright. A wall of opaque glass divides the front room from the back one. The entire floor is travertine tiled.
The back garden is also divided in half by specimen trees and features a stone patio, pond and contemporary water feature. There is vehicular rear access via electronic gates but with off-street parking for two cars out front this feels almost redundant unless the next owner wants to use the space as an office.
The front of the house is open to the road. The next owner might like to install some railings and an electronic gate, subject to planning permission.
According to the property price register, number three Northbrook Road, a detached house, sold in August of this year for €1.89 million. This house is now let achieving a monthly rental of €4,000.
In November 2012, number 23 Northbrook Road, the house next door to number 22, sold for €2,050 million. In 2010 number four sold for €1.1 million.
