Seven-bedroom Dartry redbrick home has graceful turn-of-the-century features

Number 7 Sunbury Gardens is one of an interesting U-shaped grouping of redbrick houses off Dartry Road in Rathgar, Dublin 6. The 13 very large houses, which surround a leafy, communally-owned private green, were built as a single development at the beginning of this century, but all are somewhat different.

Several more recent houses break up the Edwardian harmony, and the recently-built, 22-home Sunbury Park development adjoins Number 7.

The house will be auctioned by Sherry FitzGerald on June 2nd. The agents are quoting a guide price of £850,000 for the seven-bedroom house. The same agency recently fetched a price believed to be £905,000 for 13 Sunbury Gardens, a similar semidetached house with a smaller garden that had been renovated over the last year.

Number 7, a three-storey semi, is in need of refurbishment and modernisation, but it possesses fine period characteristics, including a massive drawingroom on the first floor, stretching the width of the house. Some of the rooms have original marble fireplaces, as well as ornate cornices and ceiling roses. The newel post on the staircase and the door frames of the main reception rooms are surface-carved with art nouveau detailing.

The front door opens into a hall with a generous cloakroom and separate lavatory to one side. On the other, a large diningroom, with a north-facing bay window, runs across the front of the house. Behind this is the kitchen, a squarish room, warmed by an old cream-coloured Aga (which is not included in the sale). Across the hall, a comfortable study has a west-facing bay window. This window, like others, has stained-glass panes in the upper part. French windows lead into a sun room. This bright space, along with another narrow room, forms part of a later addition to the rear of the house.

Upstairs on the landing, a bathroom and a cosy light-filled reading area make up the rest of the extension. On the first floor, there are two double bedrooms, one with a bay window. The splendid drawingroom, 30 ft by 15 ft in size, has a dual aspect, facing west and north, with a big bay window - and window seat - at the front.

There are five bedrooms and a bathroom on the top floor: these have been carved out of a space that once had four bedrooms, and one of the rooms is windowless, except for a skylight. Two of the bedrooms have tiny balconies.

The back garden is about 60 ft by 90 ft. There is a garage at the front of the house.