Spacious redbrick with a sense of history

Dublin 4: €1.35m A villa-style house with granite steps leading up to the front door has retained its period charm, writes Rose Doyle

Along with a unique, mid-19th century redbrick, villa-style home with a great many of its original features intact, the new owners of no. 7, Sandymount Avenue, Ballsbridge, Dublin 4, will have bought themselves a proximity to history. The adjoining house is where the Yeats family lived in 1865 when their son, the poet William Butler, was born.

The duo of villa-style houses, which have high, railed, granite steps leading to their front entrances, were built by the same developer, who, just a few years later and in a completely different style, built the three, large redbrick terraced houses which follow along the street.

Over a floor area of 163 sq m (1,760 sq ft) no. 7 Sandymount Avenue has five bedrooms and three reception rooms. It is for sale through Sherry FitzGerald which is quoting a guide of €1.35m in advance of its auction on 2nd March.

A distinctive feature of no. 7 is the elegant bay window to the side of the house.

Inside, you find that this directly faces the white marble fireplace in the living/ dining room, greatly adding to the charm of that area.

The vendors have carefully restored and polished the original floorboards. The sash windows and functioning shutters throughout are original. Many of the doors are original too, even the knobs.

High ceilinged and bright, the remarkably long and wide entrance hallway is typical of the sense of space in the house as a whole. More than six feet wide and nearly 13.3m (44ft) long, it has a polished pine floor and dado rail running along walls which are painted sea-green and white.

A short staircase near the end leads to a small shower room with tongue-and-groove walls, a wash hand basin and toilet. Descending steps lead down to the garden level.

Decorative, wall-papered panels either side of the fireplace in the living/dining room lend a Moorish look which sits well with the curved, cast-iron inset in the fireplace.

A long window overlooks the front and there is a window to the side in the dining area, reached through a pair of original, double doors.

Two bedrooms on this level, one of them the main bedroom, precisely mirror rooms on the garden level. The main bedroom, which has windows to the side and rear, has a bank of wardrobes enclosing the bed and a wash hand basin.

The second bedroom has a window to the side, pine flooring and fitted wardrobes.

A window on the turn of the descending stairs opens out to a small deck leading to steps down to the rear garden. Ceilings are high in the garden level, and the light is good. There are three bedrooms here, as well as a galley-style kitchen and family room with ornate, original cast-iron fireplace.

The family bathroom has a corner bath, wash hand basin, bidet, toilet, orange tiling and wood panelled ceiling. A second shower room, under the front steps, has a wash hand basin.

In the rear garden there is a patio area immediately alongside the house and high, ivy-clad walls giving privacy.

The healthy looking lawn is surrounded by high, old trees and there are a couple of Barna sheds with, sheltered between, a barbecue area.

There is car-parking to the front as well as along the side of the house reached through a gated side entrance.