Bathe in splendour at Castle Avenue

Castle Avenue in Clontarf is one of the area's best roads, with a mix of interesting and attractive house styles, and of course, that most prized Dublin asset, proximity to the sea front.

Number 44 is a Victorian two-storey over garden level house that is just over 100 years old. The four-bedroom semi-detached has almost 3,000 sq. ft and it stands on a quarter of an acre, hence the strong guide price of £530,000-plus being offered by Sherry FitzGerald in advance of the July 7th auction. It is one of a terrace of eight houses and, since only one of these has sold in the last 25 years, there is bound to be a great deal of interest in number 44 which has been in the same family for nearly 40 years.

Many of its period details are intact including six marble fireplaces, elaborate plasterwork and a garden level that has been left nearly completely untouched.

At hall level are the usual interconnecting reception rooms, with the bay window in the front room adding depth and space.

Upstairs on the first return is the bathroom and separate lavatory. The bathroom, with its antique bath, pretty fireplace and separate dressing room, could be wonderful. The house throughout would benefit from redecoration. New owners will probably do more than that to make best use of the garden level. This has largely been unlived in for the past few years as, for convenience, the family moved the kitchen up to the hall floor return.

It is down at garden level that you can see the grand scale of the house: it has a large bay windowed living room to the front, a back room which was once the kitchen and an old-fashioned pantry lined with glazed cupboards. Also on this level, which is surprisingly bright and high-ceilinged, is a small bedroom which was once a maid's room. At the top of the house there are three bedrooms, two very large doubles and one single. The agents are calling the hall floor return a fourth bedroom, even though it is currently fitted out as a kitchen, because they anticipate that new owners will move the kitchen back down to garden level.

The house is set well back from the road behind a tall redbrick wall, and the front garden is filled with mature shrubs and trees. The real surprises are the secluded gardens at the side and back which are are planted with mature trees and roses.

There is a lovely old-fashioned garage at the end of the garden and room for one or even two extra garages to be built beside it.