Remodelled Clontarf four-bed has two separate apartments

This is a house that has changed beyond all recognition since it was built in the 1920s

This is a house that has changed beyond all recognition since it was built in the 1920s. Standing on a corner site on Kincora Road in Clontarf, number 11 was originally a modest, flat-roofed, single-storey house. When the current owners bought it 17 years ago the main part of the house was mostly single storey, and at the back and to the side was a two-storey section that was divided into two separate apartments. An indication of how the house had been extended over the past century was that until six years ago there were seven flat roofs on the house.

The current owners renovated the house twice. When they bought the house they incorporated one of the apartments into the main house and kept the other as a granny flat. The second time was six years ago when they re-roofed the house with a pitched roof, making the main house a two-storey, four-bedroom house and reinstating the separate apartment over the granny flat. The entire property is now for sale through Mason Estates by private treaty with a price of £850,000 (1.1 million).

Downstairs are an L-shaped livingroom, a small study, a breakfastroom and the kitchen. Both the livingroom and the breakfastroom have either large picture windows or glazed patio doors and so have attractive views of the garden.

Upstairs, the largest of the four bedrooms is en suite and has a large, walk-in wardrobe. There are three other bedrooms and a family bathroom. If the new owners wanted to reincorporate the adjoining upstairs apartment into the house to create additional bedrooms it would appear to be a relatively simple matter of breaking through the wall in the landing.

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The two separate apartments are both one-beds and each has a livingroom, kitchen and bathroom. The upstairs apartment is accessed via an exterior staircase at the side of the house. The single-storey building to the side of the house at the front is a large utility room.

Part of the back garden has recently been divided off to build a dormer bungalow. There is a good drive-in area at the front and aback garden of reasonable size.

The apartments, while separate, are very much part of the house. For example, the front door of the ground-floor apartment is adjacent to that of the main house and both share the same rear patio. It is unlikely that new owners would be interested in renting them out: rather, the unusual layout of the house will appeal to someone who works from home and wants a self-contained office, or it would suit a doctor or a dentist looking for a surgery. It will also appeal to a family who require a separate granny flat or a flat for grown-up children.

Bernice Harrison

Bernice Harrison

Bernice Harrison is an Irish Times journalist and cohost of In the News podcast