Large redbrick with commanding views

Monkstown: €1.8m: Since the mid-1970s Ardvarna at 13 The Hill, Monkstown has been a congregation house and the nuns are now selling the very large, imposing Victorian redbrick which is on one of the most desirable roads in the southside suburb.

At 448 sq m (4,819 sq ft) this is a very large three-storey house and it is for auction through Sherry FitzGerald on May 7th with a guide of €1.8 million.

Ardvarna is on an elevated corner site and, as several rooms have deep bay windows, it is bright with commanding views and an attractive open aspect.

The entrance is to the side, up a short flight of granite steps and into a vaulted-roofed porch. Once inside the house there are four reception rooms off a wide and impressive hallway; two smaller ones and two very large attractive rooms with original marble fireplaces and ceiling roses.

One of the reception rooms is fitted out as a kitchen, but relative to the size of the house it's small and not ideally positioned and new owners are likely to look to create a much larger family kitchen somewhere else in the house.

There are five bedrooms upstairs off a spacious landing, two would seem to have been created by partitioning what must have originally been a very big bedroom and new owners will probably look at creating en suites and dressingrooms up here. There are also two large bathrooms, both could do with updating.

Down at garden level there are three more bedrooms, a large room used as an oratory as well as a bathroom and utility room.

The gardens are to the front, side and back of the house shielded from the road behind high hedging and are mature and private. There is a very large patio area directly outside the back door. There is also a wide driveway and parking for six cars.

This is a well lived-in house that has been adapted to suit the needs of the community that live here. It's likely that new owners - as well as redecorating and updating - will look to change the internal layout, particularly at garden level but also on the first floor to make it into a house more suited to a growing family.