Glasnevin: €1.25m The large double-fronted houses on Iona Drive don't come on the market often and when they do they are much sought-after, writes Bernice Harrison

Alexander Strain built several variations of the same style house in Iona - an area that has often been held up as a perfect example of a well-planned suburban estates because it includes smallish terraced houses as well as large detached ones.

Number 5 Iona Drive is very much in the latter category. The detached double-fronted red-brick has 224 sq m (2,400 sq ft) and a 30-metre garden. It seems even larger inside because of the square bay windows and in all it will make a superb family home. It will be auctioned by Douglas Newman Good on April 27th with a guide of €1.25 million.

Like so many of the houses in this area it has been in the same hands for many years, in this case nearly half a century. The owners have kept it in immaculate condition, updating as the years have gone on, by among other things updating bathrooms, installing heating and replacing windows but new owners will almost certainly do work - most particularly updating and extending the kitchen which is still the size it was when the house was built in 1905.

There are all the usual solid quality Strain details such as stained glass, high ceilings (both upstairs and down), decorative cornice work and matching marble fireplaces. The hallway is floored with elaborately patterned encaustic tiles, an indication that its first owner has specified top quality extras.

There are three reception rooms - all fine square-shaped rooms, two of which interconnect, the third opens into the back kitchen. This room, while fitted with relatively up-do-date units, still has its original red quarry-tiled floor and is impractically laid out for modern family tastes. At the back of the house is a fully fitted modern bathroom.

Upstairs there are five bedrooms, four being large square-shaped double bedrooms with fireplaces and wooden floorboards. There's also a single bedroom on the second floor return. Off the main bedroom at the front there is another small room which presumably was originally intended as a nursery but would make an ideal en suite bathroom and dressing area.

The house backs onto the grounds of the Iona Road church and so has a pleasant open aspect. The abundantly-planted long back garden was clearly much loved and cared for over the years.