Thirty years ago the couple who bought 34 Ailesbury Road had just gone sale agreed on one of the more familiar grand piles on the prime Dublin road – a vast two storey over garden level Victorian redbrick.
Then they thought about the distance between the children’s bedrooms at the top of the house and where they would spend most evenings – down at garden level – and all the running up and down stairs that would entail.
So as soon as they spotted the more family-friendly number 34 on the market, they opted for that instead. And, they say as they now prepare to downsize, the 1920s semi-detached two storey house has been an ideal family home ever since.
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Not that it is a small property. The six bed, three reception house is spread over 308sq m (3,315sq ft) of accommodation with generously proportioned hall and landings. The redbrick and pebbledash house is built on 0.4 of an acre – this is clear from the front where it is set well back from the leafy road with lots of parking – and from the rear, where the garden, which backs on to Wanderers rugby club, is so long that the now grassed over tennis court at the end still leaves a vast mature lawned garden.
Buyers will most likely leave the original and very gracious reception rooms as they are – they have high ceilings, open fires and lovely proportions.
Instead they will rework and probably extend the kitchen to the rear. They may also seek to do work at the side – maybe adding an extension – where there is a large playroom at ground level with small rooms overhead.
Number 34 is not listed and has a BER of F – another feature buyers will want to address.
Called Ardmore, 34 Ailesbury Road is for sale through Sherry FitzGerald for €5 million.
It won’t be the only work going on in the neighbourhood. Next door, number 36 Ailesbury Road, a very different looking property, known as the Chancery and once the French Consulate, was bought by Shane Ryan son of late Ryanair founder Tony Ryan for about €4 million in 2013 (down from the eye-watering boomtime asking price of €20 million). Its sits on one acre and its extensive refurbishment will include a subterranean swimming pool and a five-car garage.
