All along the Ringsend watchtower

A CUT-STONE house has a watchtower, a boathouse and a most unusual location: 80 Pigeon House Road, Ringsend, Dublin 4, is at the end of a small terrace across the road from Dublin harbour, just beyond Deke’s Diner, overlooking cranes and containers off the roundabout that leads to the East Wall toll bridge.

Part of a former coast guard station, the 172sq m (1,847sq ft) house on a road that was bisected to make way for the toll road, was an enchanting place to grow up, say siblings Katrina and Declan McCann, whose mother Julie, 86, now lives in Sandymount.

The three-bedroom house, which is in need of complete refurbishment, is for sale through Sherry FitzGerald with a steep price tag of €550,000. It comes with a south-facing back garden where there’s potential to develop, subject to planning permission.

Accommodation includes a good-sized sitting room, galley kitchen and small back room on the ground floor. On the first floor there are two double bedrooms and a single room, as well the family bathroom.

Steep steps lead from here to the watchtower, a room with windows on three sides with views of the red and white ESB towers and, on a good day, the sea. A false ceiling conceals the apex roof.

Declan McCann’s workroom is at the bottom of the tower stairs: he worked on Irish Lights boats and the room is filled with nautical objects. The room, once the coastguard’s munitions store, was raided by rebels for its guns in 1921. The double-fronted cut-stone fronted boathouse could possibly be used as an office or granny flat.

Also for sale in Ringsend:

On the Ringsend Park side of Pigeon House Road, a single-storey two-bedroom 41sq m(441sq ft) cottage needing refurbishment, 35 Pigeon House Road, is on the market for €160,000 through agent Bennetts in Sandymount.

A mid-terrace house, 35 South Lotts Road, Ringsend, Dublin 4, is for sale through agent Owen Reilly for €299,000. The 75sq m (805sq ft) two-bed opposite the Alliance Building at the Gas Works needs some modernisation, according to the agent. It is on view on Saturday, December 3rd, from noon-12.30pm.