Loo with a view on Leeson Street for €1.3 million

There's a world of difference between the Lower and Upper ends of Leeson Street. The offices, bars, and particularly the basement clubs with which Leeson Street has become synonymous, thicken as you head towards town. Upper Leeson Street is calmer, more elegant, more residential.

So Number 67 Upper Leeson Street is most definitely not to be confused with 67 Lower, which is home to Buck Whaleys: although the owner of 67 does admit that he misspent a large part of his youth down there, back in the day.

67 Upper Leeson Street is at the centre of a terrace of six townhouses, which, unusually for such a central part of Dublin, are all in private domestic ownership. The owners of each have clubbed together to have their front spaces turned into a communal area, with planting (box hedges and olive trees) and parking for three cars apiece. This arrangement also says something about how well the neighbours get on.

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Up the granite steps and inside, the 224sq m (2,411sq ft) of accommodation is laid out over three levels, and the entire house was lovingly restored, rewired and replumbed from roof to basement, in 2005, when the owners purchased it.

Generous doubles
That attention to detail extends to the sash windows, cornicing and ceiling roses, welcoming open fires, and, down at the garden-level kitchen, the original Aga, reconditioned and gleaming again.

There are currently three bedrooms, two generous doubles (both en suite) on the top floor, and a single at garden level. However, the master suite, which extends the width of the front of the house, enjoys a large bathroom and dressing room, which had once made up a further fourth bedroom.

The bathroom is something special, a rolltop bath – of the type you can really relax into – sits in the light of the large window. From here, you can see down both Waterloo and Wellington Roads.

“When I don’t know which kind of day it’s going to be,” says the owner, “I can look out and think, ‘am I Wellington? Or am I going to meet my Waterloo?’”

The ground floor has two generous reception rooms, with lovely proportions and features, and a garden room to the rear, which is currently keeping sensitive plants safe from winter’s storms and frosts. Looking out over the nicely landscaped back garden, you can see the Dublin mountains in the distance.

The terrace backs onto Leeson Park, which was fortunately developed before anyone started to dream of higher rises, so the view has been preserved. There’s a suntrap patio, sheltered by walls, which, by summer will be a riot of roses. Then, steps lead up to a lawn, where a pear tree provides, I’m told, delicious fruit, later in the year.

French windows
At garden level, the kitchen is warm and homely, with an arched window looking out the front, and a family livingroom, with French windows to the patio at the rear. There is also a utility room and lots of storage for wine.

The entire house has been beautifully restored and cared for. Last year, the slightly smaller number 139 sold for €720,000, although in terms of accommodation and presentation, the €1.3 million that the larger number 22 made in July 2012 might give a better steer – and that’s exactly what Lisney are guiding when number 67 comes up for auction on March 12th.