A smart new development of 32 apartments off Botanic Avenue in Glasnevin has a number of attractive features - and price is certainly one of them.
Prices at Botanic Square start at £169,000 (214,590) for eight one-bedroom units and range from £203,000 (257,760) to £245,00 (311,090) for two-bedroom apartments. Prices include one underground car-parking space.
Hooke & MacDonald will be taking deposits at the show apartment, opening today and tomorrow.
This small and very private scheme is located about midway along Botanic Avenue, facing the railings of Griffith Park.
The former factory site of three-quarters-of-an-acre is deceptively large, spreading out at the end of a long driveway between two private houses. The builder is Brian M Durkan, who has a reputation for attention to detail. Architect Raymond MacDonnell has designed a very unusual complex of two low-rise blocks.
These are linked by a glass-roofed loggia with decorative roof finials which is pure Victoriana.
Convenience to town and the location in sought-after Glasnevin are the obvious draws of Botanic Square.
The most likely buyers will be professionals and retired people trading down, says David Cantwell of Hooke & MacDonald. There are 16 units in each of the two redbrick blocks, which face each other across the drive.
Exterior brickwork is exceptional, with curved soldier courses and an unusual chain of tiny square bricks giving an art deco look. The driveway ends in an underground car-park, entered through a curved brick arch.
Inside, the common areas are decorated on a Mediterranean theme, with terracotta and cream-painted walls and grey dado and skirting to tone with the stair carpet.
The 650 sq ft two-bedroom apartments from £245,000 (311,090) have a traditional layout, with deep-silled windows in the sittingroom overlooking a lawned garden.
The sitting/diningroom is a reasonable size, with a limestone and slate fireplace - wired for an electric fire - and two bright windows. Off the dining end is a compact kitchen, fitted with solid oak units and blue mosaic wall tiling.
Off the long entrance hall is a very chic bathroom, with melon-coloured wall tiles topped with a blue-patterned border. A walk-in airing cupboard has room for a coat rail.
Both bedrooms can take a double bed, though one is a tight fit, and there are wardrobes in each room.
Apartments at the top of the blocks are brighter, because of unusual-shaped windows set into the mansard roof.
The kitchens have the benefit of a roof window in the kitchen area. Prices are at the higher end of the two-bed price scale in the city. There are just eight one-bedroom apartments from £169,000 (214,590) with 450 sq ft of space.
While all the two-bedroom units overlook the gardens, the one-bedroom homes have either a garden or courtyard outlook, depending on location.
The landscaping is imaginative. Planted borders frame an inner and outer central courtyard and a brick barbecue sits on a circular paved area facing the glass-roofed sitting area.
THERE are lawns behind each of the blocks, with high boundary walls and specimen trees. Part of the development backs onto a small park to the rear. While one parking space is free with each apartment there are a few extra spaces available at a cost of £10,000 (12,700).
Previous developments by builder Brian Durkan include Engleberg Court in Dun Laoghaire, Weaver's Square off Cork Street and Whitehall Square at Perrystown.
