Old-style newbuild in Blackrock

CO DUBLIN: €2.85MA house built five years ago will appeal to families and downsizers

THE CURIOUSLY named Rue de Bac is a comfortable, well-designed family home on Avoca Avenue in Blackrock, Co Dublin, a wide leafy suburban road lined mostly with grand period houses.

This one is different in that it was built only five years ago for the present owner who was, at that time, trading down. For all that, it’s not a modest townhouse.

While it was clearly designed for comfort and to be easily managed, it was built and decorated in a period style and is large at 325sq m (3,500sq ft) with a spacious upper level and a small basement. It is for sale through Colliers for €2.85 million.

The large south-facing site gave the architect good scope and the attractive layout will have as much appeal to growing families as it will to buyers trading down.

The front door opens into a bright inner porch and to the left off that is the kitchen; to the right is a hallway leading to the staircase. Straight ahead, sliding double doors open into the formal livingroom, designed in period style with three tall sash windows and a marble fireplace.

The eat-in kitchen is fitted with painted timber units topped with black granite and there is an Aga. There’s also a separate utility room. A short hallway leads from the kitchen to a formal diningroom at the back of the house and as the flow of the rooms into each other was obviously a key part of the design brief, there is a door from this room into the main, formal livingroom.

Also at the back of the house and opening out onto the patio are two more cosy, informal reception rooms; one of these could be used as a fifth bedroom, as directly off it is a large en suite shower room.

Upstairs there are four bedrooms, two with en suites; the largest bedroom also has a dressingroom.

The house was built in the mature garden of a much larger house, so Rue De Bac, unusually for a newbuild, has a big back garden lined with granite walls as well as grand trees and mature hedging.

At the time the house was built, the garden was attractively landscaped to include a back patio with contemporary-looking water features.

There is parking to the front for four or five cars.

Rue de Bac, Avoca Avenue, Blackrock, Co Dublin

325sq m (3,500sq ft) four-bed built five years ago in period style

Agent: Colliers