Kenilworth Square is a lovely Dublin spot that once upon a time was the heart of flatland, the fine ceiling heights compensating in part for the cramped living conditions. Those same period features and the handsome proportions has seen many of these two-storey over-basement Victorian dwellings turned back into family residences.
However, sizeable valuable interior square metrage is lost to a grand entrance hall and roomy returns, leaving you often with only two big rooms at each level – which means a lot of stairs for not an awful lot of accommodation.
Number 11 is a typical example. It measures 250sq m (2,691sq ft), has an impressively spacious hall but very small returns where there are rooms that would make a good bathroom, study or nursery. The property has been divided into four flats, two at basement level, one at hall level and one on the first floor. The property came to the market most recently in 2016 asking €890,000 but the sale fell through and it is now back on the market asking €990,000 through agents Turley Property Advisors.
The house has good ceiling heights and big windows that stream light in but the only room with any original coving is the front room at hall level. All but one of the original rooms have been subdivided and many feature dropped ceilings. There are two options that will allow you maximise its light and views. If looking for a family home, one is to turn the lower floors into accommodation installing the two best bedrooms at hall level where they could each have an en suite and have two more sizeable rooms at garden level, for the children who could share a Jack and Jill style bathroom. The rear is north-facing with a shed taking up valuable outdoor space. You could also extend out the back for family room.
The best room in the house is on the first floor. Spanning the width of the house to the front and facing due south it would make sense to install your open-plan kitchen/living/diningroom here overlooking the square – you can also see the Dublin Mountains through the trees. The room to the rear would make a fine adult livingroom.
The house is overlooked to the back by several mews houses built on Kenilworth Lane West. You can see right into their diningrooms. A hedge will offer some privacy but not from the upper levels of the house.
Alternatively a smaller family or a couple could live on the top two floor and turn the garden level into an income-generating flat that might, if you don’t make it utterly self-contained, qualify under the rent a room scheme.
But the house needs a lot of work. There are signs of damp on internal walls as well as damp around windows. The windows and their surrounds also need attention, some of the brickwork needs addressing and you will need a good surveyor to determine the condition of the roof.
Number 68, a similar size house of 230sq m (2,475sq ft), in seven self-contained units, sold for €995,000 last December through agents O’Connor Shannon.
Number 88, a five-bedroom end of terrace property, with fine period features and its original layout relatively intact, measuring a similar size (219sq m/2,360sq ft) came to market asking €1.2million through agents DNG and has been sale agreed in excess of that.
