Penthouse with sunny south-facing terrace

Apartment 61, Block D, Ballsbridge Wood, Dublin 4


m (3,500sq ft), most of it on one level, offers loads more living space than the average detached period home. The property is situated in Ballsbridge Wood, just off Shelbourne Road.

A lift takes you four floors up and straight into the front hall, dispensing with the bother of fumbling for keys. Double doors lead through to a lounge big enough to take the contents of a furniture showroom without feeling cluttered. The room has a vaulted ceiling, a warming gas-fuelled fireplace and a vista that includes a significant chunk of sky and the spire of St Mary’s Church on Haddington Road.

All the reception rooms are dual aspect and face south, offering sheltered terraces. In a grey climate such as ours, the aspect alone is a major selling point. The four-bedroom property is asking €1.6 million through agents Sherry Fitzgerald.

More double doors lead through to a dining room of huge proportions, perfect when the property was an ambassador’s residence and frequently sat 16 for dinner. To facilitate that tenant’s requirements, the present owner extended the diningroom, enclosing a significant part of the precious, south-facing terrace, something of a crime in an apartment this size. Most of us don’t entertain on that scale. The next owner might like to revert to the original layout.

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The adjacent kitchen has cafe au lait units and coffee-coloured countertops. It is a fine room with acres of storage and a dining table that is set under a Velux window.

Off the livingroom is a large study that feels considerably darker than the light-filled reception rooms.

The master bedroom is huge and a well-positioned roof light provides views to the stars from the bed. An adjacent walk-in wardrobe keeps the bedroom clutter free. The en suite shower is quite dark, given number 61’s generally sunny disposition.

A second hall takes you to bedrooms two and three, the larger of which has a lovely, light-filled, south-facing en suite shower room.

Upstairs, there is a room that is small considering the general scale of the apartment. Oddly, it has a shower cabin in one corner.

Across the hall there is a wc that is also home to an industrial-sized washing machine and drier.

This would make great quarters for an au pair for a family requiring live-in help.