Height of style on Wellington Road

A smartly modernised redbrick in D4 - with period features - has an AMV of €5.5 million, writes Bernice Harrison.

A STYLISHLY modernised three-bedroom terraced house at 57 Wellington Road has an AMV of €5.5 million prior to auction through Lisney on April 24th.

Its present owners bought the house six years ago and have renovated it from top to bottom to a high spec that includes new sash windows throughout, underfloor heating and expensive kitchen and bathroom fittings. They also extended the house, to 277sq m (2,988sq ft), converting the hall floor return area into a bright family room and providing additional access to the garden.

What they didn't do, and what may limit the number of likely buyers operating in this heady price range, is figure out a way of getting a fourth bedroom. These terraced houses are typically well-endowed when it comes to entertaining and living space but on the skimpy side when it comes to bedrooms.

Despite the impressive size of the house, there are only three bedrooms in number 57, none with an en suite, although the main bedroom does have a walk-in wardrobe.

However there are four fine reception rooms - the grand interconnecting rooms at hall level, the informal family room in the return and the comfortable and large livingroom off the kitchen down at garden level.

This wide, bright hall, floored with Portland stone, and the various roomy landings all add to a feeling of light and space.

The kitchen is in the front at garden level (with a well-fitted utility area under the granite steps that lead up to the front door).

It's a stylish mix of traditional and modern with its three-oven pewter Aga and polished granite worktops as well as a large island unit and plenty of storage in its sleek cream-coloured units.

The kitchen is separated from the informal livingroom at the back of the house by glazed doors - a family friendly, practical idea. This comfortable room opens into a tiny inner courtyard and a vaulted ceilinged walkway that leads to the back garden.

Also at this level is the second family bathroom - the other is on the first floor return.

The renovation included restoring period features such as fireplaces and cornice work and finding the right fittings to go into such an impressive period house, so for example the radiators throughout are antique-look Bisque and the interior styling and the sophisticated wall colours are so well chosen and smart that new owners shouldn't have to change a thing.

The gardens - and Wellington Road is different from so many other prestige redbrick roads in that the houses are far back from the road - have been landscaped in a formal town garden style with box hedging and gravel.

Some years ago, half the back garden was divided and sold off and there is a mews house there now so number 57 has no rear access. There is on-street parking for residents at the front.