Rathgar €1.375m: A three-storey Victorian era house has been refurbished from top to bottom. Bernice Harrison reports.
Someone is going to have to think up another word for "granny flat" - it always sounds so dispiriting, which it most certainly isn't, and small, which is not necessarily the case. For mid-life people who wish to move their elderly parents or relations closer to them, then space permitting, a granny flat is an ideal solution.
Some years ago, the owner of 82 Rathgar Road, a two-storey over basement in Dublin 6 found himself in such a position and converted the basement of the three-storey house into an entirely separate and smart, well-appointed two-bedroom apartment.
As the entire house has some 241 sq m (2,595 sq ft), the conversion didn't eat into the available living space too much and the rest of the house now has three bedrooms as well as three reception rooms and a good-sized eat-in kitchen.
The entire is now for auction through Sherry FitzGerald by auction on November 10th with a guide price of €1.375 million. The current owners had no plans to move until very recently and during the summer they re-decorated and refurbished from top-to-bottom so buyers will be getting a townhouse and an apartment in turn-key condition.
The house pretty much follows the expected layout of an early Victorian terraced house. The entrance is up a flight of granite steps and inside there is a wide hallway opening into two interconnecting reception rooms. These have all the expected period details, including marble fireplaces. New marble flooring has been laid in the hall and kitchen.
At the back, in the return, is the eat-in kitchen which has been fitted with beech units, and appliances that include a large American fridge freezer. All appliances are staying.
Double doors open out onto a small, decked balcony which leads down to the garden. If a family with small children buys the house they'll probably consider refiguring these steps as they are steep.
Upstairs on the first floor return is a large family room with a more contemporary atmosphere due to its maple floors and Velux windows, which could be used as a fourth bedroom.
On up again and there are three double bedrooms, one with an en suite, and a family bathroom. All bedrooms have built-in wardrobes and the main bedroom has a wall-mounted LCD flat screen TV. At the very top of the house in the return is a tiny shower room.
Down at basement level, the apartment has a single and a double bedroom as well as a large well-appointed kitchen, a livingroom and utility area. Double doors open out onto a patio area.
To the front, there's off-street car-parking for three cars and a patio area outside the door to the apartment. Sometime in the past, mews houses were built at the back of this terrace, so the back garden is not as long as originally intended.
