Residential

Former Ailesbury embassy asking €3 million needs work

Despite the high price expected for this six-bedroom house, the new owners will probably spend at least half a million euro modernising and reorganising the living space in the terraced property

Bernice Harrison's face
Bernice Harrison
Thu Feb 13 2014 - 00:00

Prices on Ailesbury Road in Ballsbridge have tumbled but the houses on the Dublin 4 road still command some of the highest prices for family homes on the Irish market.

Lisney is testing the road’s appeal on March 12th when it puts number 25 to auction with an AMV of €3 million. Whatever it sells for on the day – and it’s likely it will, given the cachet of the address – the new owners will probably spend at least half a million euro modernising and reorganising the living space in the terraced house.

They may also at some stage consider building a mews at the end of the 27m back garden – at present there’s a large garage there.

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The house was a family home for decades but in recent years has been an embassy rental and its layout, particularly at garden level where there is a warren of small rooms for staff, suits that purpose.

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There’s also a two-storey extension at the back, which is ugly looking and doesn’t really work in terms of the flow of the interior space, and so that will probably come down – subject to planning permission. At present the house has a floor area of 427sq m (4,596sq ft).

The best rooms are the grand original ones on the hall floor level and upstairs and they have their original proportions, period features, fireplaces, cornice work, floorboards and the rest. They are the magnificent interconnecting reception rooms off the wide hall and a large, bright room in the first floor return, listed by the agent as a bedroom but which is more likely to be used as a third reception room.

There are three large bedrooms at the top of the house and a fourth in the return. There are also two good-sized bathrooms upstairs plus another one at garden level.

The kitchen is in the extended hall-floor return and was fitted with smart modern units and a stone-topped island. It’s likely to go in the renovation because it is in the two-storey extension and it’s relatively small given the size of the house.

Its access to the garden is down a steep internal staircase that also leads to the basic utility room. The original staircase leading to the rooms at garden level is still there and there are several rooms down there, all in need of rethinking to make better use of the space and make it more family friendly.

There’s parking at the front for several cars and also at the back of the house.