Whitehall

Dublin Corporation-built houses of different eras all look very much the same from the outside. This is certainly true of homes in Larkhill, an estate of around 300 houses on the border of Whitehall and Santry, built in the 1930s.

But beyond the hall doors of standard Corporation houses, owners have put their individual stamp - and this is certainly true of Shalome, 39 Larkhill Road, a three-bed end-of-terrace property which has several unexpected features. The house is currently on the market through Douglas Newman Good for £135,000.

The property has been extensively refurbished: upstairs, for example, one of the original bedrooms has been converted into a large, tiled family bathroom with a corner bath and a shower. Upstairs there is also a tiny single bedroom, the main double bedroom at the front of the house, and a long bedroom/sittingroom over the garage at the side of the house. The owner had planned to put a partition between these two rooms to create a fourth bedroom, and this could still be done.

Downstairs there are two reception rooms divided by an archway. The decor is rich: the fireplace, for example, is dominated by a floor-to-ceiling varnished stone chimneybreast. The kitchen opens off the sittingroom at the back of the house and has a polished timber floor and fitted cupboards painted green, with pink trim.

The back garden is more than generous. Anyone who has viewed houses in Crumlin and Cabra will know that decent-sized gardens are one of the big attractions of the 1930s-built Corporation house. The garden at 39 Larkhill is particularly big because it is an end-of-terrace home.

The size isn't the only striking thing about this garden, however, which is completely covered in concrete, laid out in a series of patios and filled with statues, many of dogs. New owners may not share this devotion to things canine, but there is plenty of room for change - even for enlarging the already extended house further. Indeed, another room could be created in the garage downstairs, currently used as a store room.

There is room for parking in the cobblelocked front garden. The house is right opposite a large national school.

Drumcondra and Whitehall are attractive neighbourhoods of northside Dublin that appeal to first-time buyers who want to live reasonably close to town. Sadly, prices in both areas are rapidly moving upwards, and are nearly beyond the reach of the typical FTB (first-time buyer): there is little available in the area under £100,000 to £110,000.

But there is a steady, if not plentiful, supply of properties coming on the market, ranging in price from around £115,000 up to over £135,000. They are mostly located in a couple of neat, well-maintained former 1930s-built local authority estates in both areas. In Drumcondra, houses around Ferguson Road, just beyond Millmount Road, are making strong prices, but it is still possible to find a two-bed mid-terraced former local authority house in need of renovation from £100,000-plus, according to agent Brian Caulfield of GWD.

In Whitehall, in Larkhill, there is a steady supply of homes ranging in price from around £115,000/£125,000 for two-beds up to £140,000 for threebeds, says Paul Lappin of Douglas Newman Good.

Home-hunters familiar with the Dublin market will recognise the house type immediately: both the Ferguson Road houses and those in Larkhill are solidly-built terraced two and three-bed Corporation houses of the kind you see everywhere from Crumlin to Cabra. Most have generous back gardens, many have been considerably extended. Some, like number 39, have been transformed, as was another just down the road which Sherry Fitz Gerald recently sold for £1xxx,xxx.

The Ferguson Road houses are in a very attractive location, off Millmount Road, immediately beyond the bridge across the Tolka River on Drumcondra Road. The terraced redbrick Coronation-street style houses along Millmount are selling for around £140,000 (for two-beds) to £160,000-plus, according to agents. But keep walking past the lovely park by the Tolka, one of Dublin's best-kept secrets, and you come out on to Ferguson Road and the network of roads off it.

Homes here are well-maintained, with neat lawns, and evidence of refurbishment, everywhere. These attractions, combined with the area's closeness to the city - a good selection of buses get you into the city centre in 15 to 20 minutes - have made it very popular. "They're flying out," says Paul Lappin. "I sold one house recently - they were looking for £120,000, got £130,000, and it wasn't even advertised."

Although Larkhill is a good distance further out of town than these houses, demand is just as strong. It lies between the Whitehall/Santry border, just past Collins Avenue Extension. Again, evidence of refurbishment is everywhere, with cobblelocked driveways, new doors, new windows, and house extensions. First-time buyers from all over the city have been buying here, say agents.

This estate is very close to DCU, the airport, the M50 and Beaumont Hospital, but is quite self-contained - you'd hardly know that the busy Swords Road is just a short walk away.

A large national school dominates one corner of Larkhill, and there is a big open green space at its perimeter - the terminus of the number 3 bus that starts in Sandymount. This has a discreet headstone dedicated to the memory of singer Luke Kelly.

THE strong prices commanded by private houses in Drumcondra and Whitehall has had its effect on prices in estates like Larkhill. Homes in Gaeltacht Park, a lovely network of streets just across Collins Avenue, are now fetching from £160,000 and £170,000 up to well over £200,000 for large homes in good condition. (Gaeltacht Park is designed in the shape of a Celtic Cross, says local agent Conor Martin, who says that it was built in the early years of the State as an Irish-speaking enclave, with many of the houses being bought by civil servants.) And down on Homefarm Road, more or less half-way from Drumcondra to Santry, properties are costing up to £250,000.