For several years number 2 Clifton Terrace in Monkstown had the sad, abandoned look that attaches to any house where there's been a fire, writes Bernice Harrison.
However, over the past 18 months, the grand terraced house facing the sea has been fully restored by its young owner, a builder whose family bought it in 1996 for £390,000.
Now on the market, it's expected to make over €4 million at auction through Sherry FitzGerald on March 10th. Given the scale of the refurbishment, and the fact that there is a two-bedroom mews house to the rear leading to Clifton Lane, and a three-bedroom self-contained apartment at ground floor level, it could make closer to €5 million.
At 455 sq m (4,897 sq ft), this is a very large house and it feels like it. The entrance, with its granite steps and formal portico, give off a suitable sense of grandeur and the railed front garden is free of parking. There are two spaces to the rear.
Inside, it's clear that a huge amount of work has been done, including the building of a new staircase, new plasterwork throughout, new windows and a new roof of old slates. Reclaimed timber was sourced for floorboards; decorative cornice work, doors and wood panelling were copied; and the ground level extended to create a superb kitchen complete with Aga.
Painted from top-to-bottom with soft heritage colours, it's been renovated with respect for its history but with a clear view to what modern families are looking for. The hall level rooms are beautifully proportioned and, as it's a double-fronted house, there are lots of rooms, especially those fit for entertaining. On one side of the hall there are two large interconnecting reception rooms with feature marble fireplaces and tall sash windows (two to the front, one to back) while another window has been replaced with French windows opening out onto a new deck.
On the other side of the hall there is another particularly attractive reception room with two tall windows to the front, that catch the sea views, and a beautiful white marble, decoratively carved fireplace. The room runs front-to-back and there's another tall window in what is one of the house's notable architectural features, a curvilinear bay in a section of the back wall that gives this room and the room above it, the main bedroom, a pleasing curved shape.
Upstairs there are four bedrooms with the main bedroom running from the front to the back of the house with a large en suite as well as a walk-in wardrobe. A marble fireplace and working shutters on the tall windows complete the period feel.
There are three other bedrooms, two with sea views, all doubles and one of them with an en suite. The family bathroom is in a room with a tall round head window and has been kitted out with period-style fittings including a clawfoot, rolltop bath.
Down at garden level the current owner has made a layout decision that new owners will either instantly approve of or will need to think about. The area is so large that on one side there is a self-contained, very smartly fitted-out, three-bedroom apartment with its own private patio area at the back. This is accessed from the front of the house via a door under the granite entrance steps.
If the new owners didn't require such a large self-contained apartment it would be possible to easily reincorporate at least two of those bedrooms into the main house's accommodation.
On the other side, at garden level, is a family kitchen that leads through to an informal dining area and further on to a utility room, a bathroom and another room that could be a home office, gym, playroom or another bedroom. This area is bright with well-thought-out access to the back garden.
The garden is dominated by a gently stepped deck which is accessed from double doors at hall floor level and from the back reception room. The rest of the garden has been planted with lawn and shrubs.
At the end of the garden is the former stable, now a smart two-bedroom mews surrounded by granite walls and with two car-parking spaces to the front.
