Dublin could be heaven if you lived on Stephen's Green

DUBLIN 2 €1.4M:A three-bedroom apartment with a private city terrace on St Stephen's Green is for sale for €1.4m, writes Rose Doyle

LIVING ACCOMMODATION with a front door onto St Stephen's Green is rare enough these days, especially rare on the southern side of Dublin's famed urban park.

It's a property reality which makes number 96 St Stephen's Green, Dublin 2 more than a little special.

Number 96 has, in fact, been a front door onto the green since the 1740s,when members of the city's Huguenot merchant class got together to build themselves homes along this stretch of the park.

A frugal, practical people, they built functional homes with two rooms and a staircase on each of four floors which, proving the test of time, were lived in as family homes until the 1950s.

Behind its distinctive hall door, number 96 has living accommodation on ground and garden levels. Latter-day developments on the green have given number 96 a second main entrance to the rear, albeit one shared with the residents of more recent, overhead apartments, as well as useful access to communal laundry facilities and a gated side entrance to an invaluable parking space.

Steps from the street lead down to a second entrance from St Stephen's Green.

The 133sq m (1,442sq ft) apartment is for sale by private treaty for €1.4 million through agent Finnegan Menton.

Accommodation includes three bedrooms, a diningroom, livingroom and kitchen with a delightful, high-walled and ivy-clad terrace off the diningroom creating another living space.

The front entrance door opens directly into the livingroom where shuttered sash windows overlook St Stephen's Green.

A working fireplace is set into a corner chimneybreast and an alcove leads to a small kitchen.

Also on this level there's the diningroom with its built-in cupboards and French windows leading to that city centre gravelled terrace which is animated by a water feature in one wall.

A spiral staircase leads down from the livingroom to the lower level main bedroom, entrance lobby and hallway.

The bedroom, given an interesting angle by the chimneybreast, has a pair of shuttered sash windows facing the front as well as its own separate entrance via steps leading from street level to a small lobby and storage area.

The remaining, smallish, bedrooms are off the hallway, as is a hall closet and family bathroom.

96 St Stephen's Green, Dublin 2

The livingroom and main bedroom of this 133sq m (1,442sq ft) three-bed apartment look over St Stephen's Green and it has a private terrace off the diningroom.

Agent: Finnegan Menton