Number 12 Herbert Place, one of the few properties on a Georgian terrace overlooking the Grand Canal in Dublin, would suit a buyer looking for a home near the city centre. It is one of the few properties on this terrace that was modernised in recent years as a single family home. Many of the other three-storey over basement houses on the terrace, which runs from Baggot Street to Huband Bridge/Mount Street Crescent, are used as offices, with others set out as apartments. The houses, built in about 1815, are protected structures.
When the owner of number 12 inherited the property from her mother 20 years ago, it was set in flats too. In their family since the 1960s, it had belonged to her great-aunt. The vendor had always wanted an old house, and she and her Danish husband moved from Denmark to live here. They comprehensively renovated and modernised number 12: it’s now a bright four-bed with original period details – elaborate plasterwork, marble fireplaces – elegantly decorated in mostly neutral shades.
Now 12 Herbert Place, a 316sq m (3,400sq ft) four-bed – that comes with a 67sq m (721sq ft) one-bed mews and a garage at 31 Herbert Lane – is for sale through Lisney Sotheby’s International Realty for €2.5 million.
The house is roughly halfway down Herbert Place, overlooking the tree-lined canal. Like the rest of the properties on the terrace, it stands behind wrought-iron railings, with columns framing a front door with a fanlight over it. The front hall has a marble-tiled floor, a centre rose, a dado rail and ceiling coving and an arch leading to the back hall.
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On the left are the two grand reception rooms, with double doors in a wide arch connecting them; both have ornate ceiling cornicing, matching white marble gas fireplaces with slate and brass inset; the drawingroom at the front and diningroom at the rear both have tall sash windows framed by long gold drapes.
A few steps down at the end of the hall lead to a return where there’s a small study with a built-in desk; conveniently, it also has a sink, cupboards, dishwasher and a breakfast bar, handy if you’re working from home.
The kitchen/breakfastroom is in the basement, along with a family room, utility room and storage room. It’s a bright space, with cream units, polished black granite countertops and island. A sash window over the sink looks into a small patio courtyard at the front and there’s separate understairs access from a door beside the patio. Glazed double doors open into a cosy family room with fitted shelves beside a timber mantelpiece. More glazed double doors open from here into the good-sized courtyard at the back paved with granite slabs. There’s a door into the garage on Herbert Lane from the courtyard; a door in the mews also opens into it.
The stairs to the first floor, like a number of the staircases in the house, have stairlifts, which were installed for the owner’s late husband. Double doors on the landing open on to a small decked terrace overlooking the courtyard at the back of the house and roofs of city buildings all around.
The first floor is completely taken up by the handsome main bedroom suite: it spans the width of the house, looking over the canal through two tall nearly floor-to-ceiling sash windows. Like the reception rooms below, it has a fireplace with a marble mantelpiece and ornate ceiling cornicing. A wide arch opens into a large walk-in dressingroom with lots of wardrobes and from there into the large en suite. Part-tiled, it has a bath, double shower, double wash-hand basin and a separate toilet.
The other three bedrooms, a single and two doubles, are on the second floor; the two doubles have en suite shower rooms and fitted wardrobes. All the bedrooms, like the rooms downstairs, are smartly and simply fitted out – not staged, but done by the owner, who says it was a labour of love. A short flight of stairs leads to the very top of the house, where there’s a bathroom with a shower and toilet.
Although there’s very little garden with number 12, the patio area – off the kitchen, beside the front steps – is big enough to accommodate a small table and chairs and is very private, with a hedge screening it from street view.
The 67sq m (721sq ft) one-bed mews house at 31 Herbert Lane has a double bedroom with an en suite shower off it downstairs. Steep stairs lead to a large bright timber-floored open-plan livingroom/diningroom/kitchen, with three Velux rooflights. The decent-sized kitchen has a tiled floor and cherrywood units. New owners could use the mews as a separate home office or as accommodation for a family member, or rent it; it currently fetches about €1,700 a month.
The garage beside the mews’s front door has an up-and-over roller door. There is also residents’ permit parking outside for number 12 on Herbert Place. Herbert Lane runs off Mount Street Crescent, just before the Pepper Canister church.
A number of Herbert Place properties have come up for sale this year: Knight Frank is looking for €2.7 million for number 10, a house with three modern apartments, and Lisney has sale agreed number 22, a house of five pre-1963 flats needing refurbishment, which went on the market seeking €1.65 million.
