Spiritual home in the heart of Dublin 4

Dublin 4 €950,000:The four-bed house at 3 Pembroke Park is on one of Dublin 4's prestige addresses. It is at the less imposing end of the street, beside the intersection with Clyde Road.

The semi-detached redbrick is a place of gathering and worship for the Catholic Charismatic Renewal, a prayer group that started in the early 1970s in Ireland, according to Sr Bridget Dunne, a La Retraite sister who is the chairwoman of the national service committee for Catholic Charismatic Renewal in Ireland.

Members include politicians, celebrities from the entertainment world and writers, says Sr Bridget, but she isn’t naming names. The organisation runs workshops, conferences and retreats.

The house, which was paid for by donations, is no longer suitable for their use. “Repairs are eating away what little funds we have,” Sr Bridget explains.

The property is in need of serious modernisation and is for sale through agents Colliers for €950,000.

The house is called Emmanuel, the Hebrew name for Christ. The roof looks like it needs work, the windows in one room are held together with gaffer tape and there is damp and rot in evidence in several rooms.

To renew the house could take between €300,000 and €400,000. A cautious buyer would view the property as the kind of money pit project that is television gold.

But if a des res in Dublin 4 is what you’re after the house offers potential to those with deep pockets. The sizeable property measures 235sq m (2,529sq ft) and is laid out over three and a half floors. At entrance level there is a small cloakroom to the right of the inner porch. There are two reception rooms to the right with interconnecting, sliding doors. The front room has an open fireplace and a lovely bay window.

The kitchen is down half a flight of stairs. It hasn’t been updated since the Catholic Charismatic Renewal first set up home here.

A back door leads out to a very small but sheltered patio that faces southwest. There is pedestrian rear access.

On the hall return is a room that has been divided into two smaller rooms. It operates as an office and could be light-filled if you removed the partition.

On the first floor there are four rooms. The bay window in the main bedroom mirrors that in the front room below. A third room to the rear has been divided into two small and cluttered spaces.

The fourth bedroom is big enough to be a double and overlooks the road.

At lunchtime you can hear roars from St Conleth’s College across the road.

The family bathroom is on the first-floor return. At the top of the stairs, on the second floor, there is an attic room with roof lights on either side, bringing in much-needed light.

Emmanuel,  3 Pembroke Park, Ballsbridge

Description: Four-bedroom semi-detached redbrick in need of complete modernisation

Agent: Colliers International