Number 55 Grosvenor Road, Rathmines, Dublin 6, a large, terraced, Victorian house currently divided into eight units, is likely to appeal to both investors and private buyers looking for that much sought-after property - the D6 redbrick. The three-storey over garden level house is for sale by private treaty through Sherry FitzGerald for £525,000.
It has a small town garden, approximately 40 ft wide, at the rear, and a small railed garden at the front.
The eight units in the house are traditional "bedsitters" that evoke memories of the 1960s and 1970s. But many of the original features of the house, built around 1850, are largely intact, so a buyer who wanted to convert the house back into a large family home would not have to replace such things as the period fireplaces
There are two huge marble fireplaces in the rooms at the right of the front hall, and two matching rooms on the next floor also have fireplaces. The ground floor rooms are divided by a partition set into the wide arch that links the rooms, but this could be easily removed - and the original doors may still be there, thinks agent Declan Fanning.
Each of the front rooms on both floors have deep bay windows, and throughout the house, there are intact centre roses and ornate cornicework.
The house is built on a massive Victorian scale, with large landings and very generously proportioned rooms; the floor area of the house is approximately 3,100 sq ft. Even the third, attic level of the house accommodates three bed sitters at the moment.
Although the bedsits are the old-fashioned variety, they are in good condition, and an investor might well buy the property as it is: the units rent from £90 a weekplus, and there is a strong market for this kind of accommodation. Agent Declan Fanning reports that an increasing number of investors have come in to the market in recent weeks.
Grosvenor Road is a fairly quiet road close to both Rathmines and Rathgar villages, with fine period houses that sell for up to £1 million. It is in walking distance of the city centre, and reasonably close to schools like Gonzaga College, St Mary's, and Alexandra College.
