Upstairs downstairs canal-side villa in D8 for €950,000

On a sunny day, Windsor Terrace is one of the loveliest places to walk along the Grand Canal, linking Bloomfield and Longwood Avenues. The houses front onto the water and across to busy Grove Road, where the hum of traffic may draw you out of your reverie. The pedestrian path is thronged with locals and visitors, especially at weekends.

Most of the houses are set back far enough to feel distanced from these aspects of city life. Number 19 is situated on the corner of Longwood Avenue and has a small front garden screened by foliage for privacy.

When the owner bought the property in April 2012, paying €675,000 for it, according to the Property Price Register, it had already been refurbished, and extended to 163sq m (1761sq ft).

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The house has a tiled entrance hall and a villa-style configuration. The original two interconnecting reception rooms have become bedrooms; the sitting room to the front a nursery, while the master bedroom is in what was originally the dining room. It has access to an internal courtyard and a shower en-suite.

The kitchen, living, dining room to the rear includes a seating area that overlooks the same courtyard. A wall of sliding door storage ensures the countertops are clutter-free. From the dining area, there is sliding glass door access to the rear of the house, with off-street parking for one car. Residents’ disc parking on street is also available and might be more appealing as a car parked to the rear will obscure some of the kitchen’s light.

Finest room

Upstairs on the hall return is a fine bathroom with a raised bath. On the first floor is the property’s finest room, a dual aspect formal sitting room that spans the width of the house and offers a great space for people watching.

The house has lovely delicate plasterwork, sash windows and picture rails, features that are especially evident in this room. The pelmetted and curtain swagged windows won’t be to everyone’s taste as they distract slightly from the room’s most striking features; the canal views and the sunshine flooding through. In many of these houses this room is a bedroom, but as a formal sitting room everyone in the house can enjoy it. The next owners might like to rethink the configuration, but if there isn’t a clatter of children to accommodate, it works as is.

Spiral staircase

A spiral staircase leads up to a wood-panel ceilinged attic room, currently used as a music room. The house has speakers integrated throughout.

The second bedroom is situated to the rear of the first floor. For a property that has been refurbished and upgraded it has a low Ber, measuring E2. The house is for sale for €950,000 through SherryFitzGerald.

In July 2014, number 17 sold for €700,000. Number 3, a three-bedroom property 128sq m (1,378sq ft) in size is currently asking €675,000 through agent Felicity Fox.