Sherry FitzGerald expects a price in excess of £720,000 for 52 Garville Avenue, a restored five-bedroom period house in Rathgar, Dublin 6, which goes to auction on April 28th. The large, two-storey over basement property last changed hands six years ago. The present owners have been restoring it, starting at the top by re-roofing it with Blue Bangor slates. Inside, they restored the highly decorative cornice work in the hallway and reception rooms. The entrance to the house is particularly nice. It consists of a square hallway with its original tiled floor, as well as the unusual feature of matching slim doorways, one of which is blind in true Georgian style, the other which opens into the main part of the house.
The basement is where the family spends most of its time and it has been laid out and decorated in a suitably comfortable style. All the woodwork has been stripped back to the pine and the kitchen runs nearly the width of the front of the house, so it has room for an extra-large table, along with all the solid wood cupboards any large family is likely to need. The original fireplace has been piped to take an Aga.
Also to the front of the house is a large utility room with a walk-in, industrial-type cold room which is like a massive fridge. There is a playroom off the kitchen.
At the back of the house, at this level, is a large family room with double doors opening out on to the garden. A bedroom at this level has the advantage of being close to a well-appointed shower room, making it ideal guest accommodation.
The hall level has the most dramatic rooms - very large interconnecting reception rooms with high ceilings and large windows. The rooms have been replastered and rewired, but they haven't been repainted and they are missing fireplaces.
Also at this level is a study room with its lovely dark granite original fireplace. The fourth bedroom is in the first floor return, while the main bedrooms are at the top of the house. There are two double bedrooms to the front and a very large main bedroom to the back.
The family bathroom is in the second storey return and has been decorated in a classic black and white colour scheme. A nice feature is its original bath, which is not only very large and deep but comes with its original brass taps and ornate stopper, all of which have been restored.
The owners commissioned an interior designer to choose colours for the house, and the result, mostly terracottas and yellows, helps to create a warm interior in such a large home. One thing missing from this property is a long garden. The house is at the corner of Garville Avenue and Rathgar Avenue and sometime in the past, most of the garden which opens on to Rathgar Avenue to the side, was sectioned off. Now number 52 has a very average sized garden. The owners have made the best of what they have, with one side laid out as a very nice formal courtyard bordered by a high granite wall, while the other side of the garden is under grass. A landscape gardener designed its well planted raised beds. A gravelled drive-in to the front of the house has room for two cars.
