Houses in Upper Leeson Street have risen sharply in value in recent years, mainly due to their city centre location. Two large houses were sold last autumn, with 32 Upper Leeson Street making £1.4 million and its neighbour, number 31, a house needing refurbishment, fetching £970,000. A smaller Georgian terraced house at 124 Upper Leeson Street, Dublin 4, is to be auctioned by Keane Mahony Smith on March 29th, and has a guide price of £800,000-plus.
This listed four-bedroom house has been refurbished with a daring use of colour. Few homes have so successfully combined period detail with modern ideas in terms of architecture and layout.
The house has two steps leading to a smart front door with an ornate fanlight and into a hall painted a bright yellow and carpeted in red. Original cornicing and a centrepiece also feature. Off the hall is a reception room with exposed floorboards and a cast-iron fireplace with inlaid tiles, a picture rail and a ceiling rose. The room is painted a bright terracotta colour and has restored sash windows.
Also off the hall is a dining-room painted a striking aquamarine with an Adam-style fireplace, picture rail and ceiling cornice. French doors lead to a family room just off the kitchen. This room was originally part of the back yard and has been enclosed with a slanting roof and two Velux windows. It has exposed brick walls and a timber floor and leads into the kitchen, which has a Stanley gas-fired cooker, as well as built-in wall and floor presses, a ceramic sink and a breakfast counter. Again the use of colour is effective with purple grape featuring prominently to the rear in contrast to the white walls and fitted units elsewhere. A small utility room is plumbed for a washing machine.
A small cloakroom with lavatory is under the staircase off the hall. A double bedroom is on the first-floor return, alongside the main family bathroom, which is tiled, with a port-hole window. The landing has built-in pine presses.
The main bedroom is at the top of the stairs and extends the width of the front of the house. It has an original timber floor and a fine grey marble fireplace. This room would originally have been used as a drawing-room and is painted in Wedgwood blue.
The en suite has a bath and shower while a walk-in wardrobe has fitted shelves and hanging space.
The third bedroom is a large single while the fourth bedroom is up a short flight of stairs at the back and is a good-sized double.
Gardens front and rear are well laid out. To the rear is a flagged terrace which rises to an al fresco dining area. It is not a large area overall but the garden is not overlooked at the back. The garden to the front is railed with some lawn and planted borders. The property has no off-street parking, although a residential disc parking scheme applies. It is situated on a busy thoroughfare into the city centre and is within walking distance of St Stephen's Green, as well as being on a QBC. The house is alarmed and shops, churches, colleges and schools are all close by, as well as the Grand Canal.
