A Victorian house in Dartry, south Dublin, has been sold for €10 million, the highest price paid this year for a Dublin house with no obvious development potential.
The five-bedroom redbrick at 44 Temple Road is owned by cancer specialist, Dr Michael Moriarty, of St Vincent's and St Luke's hospitals, who has lived there for over 20 years. It was not offered on the open market, but sold privately through Sherry FitzGerald director, Mr Simon Ensor, who regularly sources homes for Ireland's growing band of "high net-worth" individuals. The new owner is believed to be a businessman who has bought the villa-style two storey over basement house as a family home.
The price sets a new record for Dublin 6, just weeks after a detached house needing renovation on nearby Cowper Road made €6.275 million at auction - about €3 million over the guide price. Temple Road has always been what estate agents call a "destination address" - where rich people would like to see themselves living when they get even richer.
Wide and leafy, and surprisingly traffic-free, its sedate houses are surrounded by lavish gardens that are impressively landscaped. There are some modest houses near the junction with Dartry Road, and there is a modern housing development tucked away to one side, but its largest and most sought after homes are at the far end behind high walls and electronically- controlled gates. These are now beyond reach of all but the most wealthy. Long-time residents, meanwhile, are guaranteed a fortune, tax-free, should they decide to sell.
Prices on the road have risen dramatically in the last decade: in 1995, a large detached house across the road from number 44 changed hands for under €900,000. By 1998, values had more than doubled and a similar house was sold for around €2.8 million. By 2000, it was more expensive still to buy into Temple Road - with another similar house fetching €4.4 million.
The €10 million price paid for Dr Moriarty's home is still slightly below the amount spent by former hotelier, Mr David Doyle, for a detached house on Shrewsbury Road, Ballsbridge, in 2002. He bought Clancool, a two-storey red brick for close to €11 million from businessman Mr Tony Mullins who paid €857,000 for it in 1993.
