£175,000-plus could take you into the past

A house with an interesting past has come on the market within sight of Kings Inns and the Four Courts at 3, Royal Canal Bank, Broadstone, Dublin 7. The property, for sale by private treaty through Douglas Newman Good, is priced in excess of £175,000.

Royal Canal Bank is a quiet road fronting on to a railed park and is one of the gems of the north inner city. The 18th century culp stone and brick-fronted house was once the paymaster's house, where bargemen called to pay freight charges. Later, it became an alehouse when the Midland Railway company took over the house. In 1916, a second storey was built on and the house was divided into two. Snipers used scaffolding on the site as a vantage point during the Easter Rising and a quantity of guns was discovered when the canal in front of the house was drained. During the past year, the brickwork has been fully restored and repointed and new timber sash windows installed. The adjoining houses overlap on the second floor as part of the original renovations but as the walls are soundproofed, this just creates an intriguing "higgledy-piggledy" effect upstairs. From the house, you can walk to the Four Courts and the quays. Phibsboro shopping centre is minutes away. Theatres, galleries and the Phoenix Park are all very accessible - private transport is almost redundant when living so close to the city. The accommodation is compact, but there are still three good sized bedrooms and a nice brick paved terrace to the rear that catches the sun most of the day. There is a family room to the right of the entrance hall with a tile and mahogany fireplace. The bathroom is downstairs and has a cast-iron bath and electric shower unit. The sittingroom stretches from the front to the back of the house and has lovely deep window sills, an open fireplace in rustic brick and a polished timber floor. A kitchen overlooks the garden and is large enough to breakfast in, with built-in units and a ceramic tiled floor.

Upstairs, the three bedrooms have curved attic ceilings and two of these have built-in cupboards. The terrace has raised flower beds, a tool shed and a spreading pyracantha tree to sit under in summer.