Dublin 4: €7mA large family home on Ailesbury Road has been refurbished from top to bottom, writes Bernice Harrison
Ailesbury Road is best known for its large two-storey over basement houses but, at the Donnybrook end of one of Dublin's most prestigious roads, there are a number of mid 20th century houses.
A record was achieved for one of these last year, when it made over €4 million at auction. However, since then values have moved fairly dramatically on this road, and now number 60, a refurbished house, is quoting a strong €7 million prior to auction through Sherry FitzGerald on June 2nd.
Designed by architect Michael Scott in the 1950s, the current owners bought the detached house eight years ago and refurbished it from top to bottom. It now has six bedrooms and 335sq m (3,600sq ft) of space on one-third of an acre of landscaped gardens. And a luxurious interior - think V'soske Joyce carpets throughout, underfloor heating and a garage-sized wine cellar.
This is a bright welcoming house with a simple, family-friendly layout with a large open-plan living and dining area. That's on one side of the hall, on the other is a smaller, more informal family room.
Extending at the back and adding a sloping double height glazed roof has made for a bright modern eat-in kitchen, extensively fitted with Poggenpohl cherrywood units topped with granite. There is a separate well-kitted out utility room.
Upstairs there are four bedrooms, all doubles. Two are at the far end of the house, share a bathroom and are used by teenage boys. There's also another larger double at the back but the main bedroom suite is most impressive in terms of size and design. It is a large, elegant double room with a walk-through dressing area and full-sized bathroom. There's also a family bathroom at this level.
On up again there are two more bedrooms in the attic conversion, one is currently fitted out as a home office. The original double garage to the side was halved in size, refurbished and wired as a temperature-controlled wine cellar but has been used as a children's games room.
The back garden, landscaped by Andrew Glancriagie, is sympathetically and imaginatively planned with a large patio area outside the kitchen, seating areas, play areas and walkways - the plants are now mature and are set off by dry stone walls.
