There was such a clamour for the detached Edwardian family house at 36 Herbert Park in Ballsbridge when it came on the market in 2003 that it sold for a cool €1.1 million over the guide price. It had been on the market for €3 million but it sold for €4.1 million. There was considerably less interest when it next came on the market a decade later for €3.6 million before falling back to less than €3 million without finding a buyer. It has been on the market since then, and now, under new agent Hunters, there’s a push to sell at €3.25 million.
It’s a fine house, substantial at 339sq m (3,649sq ft), and terrifically located at the Ballsbridge end of Herbert Park. At the turn of the last century three detached houses were built just at the entrance to the park and number 36 is one of them; it is arguably the best positioned as it is nearest the park. It had its last major refurbishment, which included a small extension, in the early 1990s .
An ideal family home, it has five bedrooms, two en suite, as well as a very large family bathroom which looks to have been converted from a sixth bedroom. That’s upstairs, over two floors. Downstairs off the spacious hall there is an elegant drawingroom with dual aspect: one wide window looking out to the front garden, another to the side. There’s also a small study at the front of the house.
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The layout at the back needs a rethink. There’s a kitchen with a deep bay window, opening into a middle room, possibly used as a formal diningroom, and on again into an other reception room. Having three rooms interlink in that way makes the middle room seem like a walk-through space. At the back of the house off the reception room is a smart-looking timber-framed conservatory. The kitchen, and its adjoining utility room, are now dated and new owners will at the very least fit a new kitchen but will almost certainly rethink the layout of all the rooms at the rear.
A good deal of upgrading is required but that is hardly going to put a potential buyer off. What they will have to look into, though, is what is planned for the recently sold old Cablelink building at the rear which is very close to the house. Number 36 is surrounded by mature gardens and it is well back from the road – although its true garden and a big selling point is Herbert Park, which couldn’t be closer to the house and is one of Dublin’s most beautiful public parks.
