Large detached houses in Blackrock rarely come on the market. This should ensure strong interest in Arus Muire, a five-bedroom detached house with half an acre of gardens at 134 Mount Merrion Avenue in Blackrock, Co Dublin.

Scheduled for auction through Sherry FitzGerald on March 15th, the property is valued at over £1.3 million. An attractive two-storey house with around 2,800 sq. ft of living space, and a back garden that faces south, it is close to the top of Mount Merrion Avenue on the left hand side, not far from the junction with the Stillorgan dual carriageway. An original garage block at the side of the house could be converted to a mews or offices, or incorporated into the main house.

A busy family home for the last 18 years, the house has been regularly refurbished and is in very good decorative order. However, at this level of the market buyers tend to refurbish and extend as a matter of course so new owners will undoubtedly make changes. The house is set well back from the road and protected by electronic gates leading into a driveway. Dating from the 1920s and built in the Crampton style with half redbrick and half pebbledash exterior, this is a fine family house with a rambling layout that will allow both adults and children to carve out their own space.

As in many houses of this era there is a wide spacious hallway lit by a high stained-glass window over the staircase. There are four reception rooms at this level and a spacious kitchen/breakfast-room. The largest of these is an impressive square - with French doors leading to a conservatory.

Beside the drawing-room is a charming small study or sitting-room with a corner bay window overlooking the front garden.

A large living-room has its original parquet floor and French doors opening onto a patio. A door also leads into the kitchen, The kitchen is divided into a working area with a view of the garden and an eating area at the other end. A lobby off the kitchen has a door to a side passageway leading to the outbuildings, and also connects handily to the formal dining-room at the front of the house.

Upstairs, two of the five bedrooms have en suite bathrooms while the remaining three bedrooms share a large well designed family bathroom with both a bath and a corner shower. The back garden, like the house, is in very good condition, having been well planted and tended by the owners over the years. There is a second garage, a greenhouse and a large tool shed.