Many of the mews houses off the main thoroughfares of Georgian Dublin 2 were built in the 1960s or 1970s and as such benefit from the large glazing and often villa-style layouts that were fashionable at the time.
Located at the very end of this T-shaped lane that runs behind Pembroke Street, almost at Lower Leeson Street, number 1 Pembroke Place has the look and feel of this era but is one of three in a terrace that was demolished and rebuilt circa 1999.
The current owners bought in 2005 and retained the layout which is set over three levels and extends to about 124sq m (1,334sq ft).
The property, which opens in from the street to a hall, has an eat-in kitchen of about 15sq m that is fine for the “work hard, play hard” brigade, but for those who wish to congregate, there is scope for new owners if they don’t need the parking to extend into the adjoining, off-street garage. This would open up the room by a further 14sq m and bring in more light.
Up a flight is the living room, a lovely bright room lit by a large window and warmed by a gas fire. The first of the property’s three double bedrooms is also at this level. It could also be used as a study or home office – or indeed you could bring the kitchen up to this level and use the ground floor as a work/live unit.
There are two more doubles on the second floor. The main has a north-facing balcony and a shower en suite with roof lights bring in daylight. The family bathroom is at this level and was upgraded when the owners moved in. Each of the bedrooms has large windows and smoked mirror-fronted sliding wardrobes.
From here a staggered set of steps leads up to a domed rooflight that you push and flip up to access the roof terrace, a secret space that gives a rear-window view of the surrounding Georgian buildings.
Access to the 32sq m (344sq ft) terrace isn’t for the faint of heart – nor the clumsy – but is worth the effort. The roof is clad in artificial grass and steps up to a sizeable Artic Spa hot tub big enough for a party of six.
The space is relatively private. Most of the surrounding buildings are set out as offices with only the odd worker bee there after 5pm so you can probably frolic about in the water relatively unsurveyed.
The vista is impressive too, with lots of light and space and you are surrounded by Georgian roofscapes. The setting is country quiet at weekends and yet the flurry of Grafton Street and Merrion Row is less than a 10-minute walk away.
The property, which has a D1 Ber, is asking €895,000 through agent Haines.
The house next door, number 2 Pembroke Place, is also for sale. Also a three-bedroom property, it is smaller in size, with 83sq m (893sq ft) over two floors and about 20sq m of a terrace to the front. The C2 house is asking €650,000 through agent Felicity Fox.
