It took a little time to find Santa Anna, a semi-detached house on Ailesbury Road for sale by Sherry FitzGerald – not because Ballsbridge is difficult to find but I always thought Ailesbury Road started at the back of Donnybrook Church and ended at Merrion Road.
As it turns out it doesn’t, it extends to the other side of Merrion Road down to the Dart line at Sydney Parade. That stretch of the road doesn’t quite feel like Monopoly-board Ailesbury Road and Santa Anna isn’t a typical Ailesbury Road house.
It’s a 1930s home close to the Dart station, whose main selling point is its address, its potential to extend and its vast back garden – it’s on a third of an acre and it comes with a hefty price tag of €1.95 million.
0 of 4
Mind you that seems a snip by comparison with the price when it last came up for sale.
Santa Anna went for auction in 2007 quoting €7.5 million, and it was withdrawn when it didn’t meet the reserve. By 2008 the price had dropped to €4.75 million. There were still no takers and it has been rented for the past couple of years.
It’s a big, bright family house with five bedrooms, three reception rooms (two interconnecting), a functional, small kitchen, a breakfast room and utility room. In all there is 212sq m (2,281sq ft) of space, so it’s big.
New owners will almost certainly do a top-to-bottom renovation, subject to the necessary planning, and they may even extend to compensate for the relatively small kitchen – there’s plenty of room both to the side where there is a garage, and into the back garden. Indeed, in a different time, buyers might have planned to divide the property and create a separate site for a new-build to the side where the garage is.
Some time in the past – maybe in the 1970s or early 1980s – Santa Anna had a major makeover that took away its period features from the original panelled interior doors to all the fireplaces: even the front door was replaced with a now dated teak and glass version, so it doesn’t have any of those charming 1930s details.
That renovation also added some new features – a lemon bathroom suite in one room, a green en suite off the main bedroom, sinks in other bedrooms, dated built-in wardrobes and vanity units. No matter how retro the new owners, these will probably go.
The interest will be in seeing if the Ailesbury Road address and the great outdoor space is enough to compensate for the work needed at this price.
