Party in the house, Pilates on the green: Ballsbridge three-bed for €1.1m

When the owner of 13 Lansdowne Park hired the architect Paula Murphy to redesign the living space 25 years ago, she was keen to make it the kind of space where she could live and work in peace, as well as entertain friends during Horse Show week.

The owner has a passion for horses, and when the annual showjumping event at the RDS comes around, she will invariably host a party for her friends at the house. With its spacious, high-ceilinged living-room extension opening out to a Japanese-influenced paved rear garden replete with mature trees and shrubs, including Paulownia trees, espalier “apple” trees and a large Acer, there’s plenty of room for her guests to mix and mingle.

The 130sq m semi-detached house was built in the 1930s and overlooks a lovely, leafy residents’ green. Lansdowne Park has a nice mix of younger, older and middle-aged residents, and many of them meet up in the green for weekly Pilates sessions.

There’s a reception room to the right of the entrance hall that is currently used as the third bedroom, and a guest bathroom to the left. The owner decided to put in a galley kitchen rather than an open kitchen; many a professional chef has cooked here and found it very user-friendly. There’s also a spacious, separate utility room with a door leading out to a wide side passage.

Pass the neat dining area and you get to the living-room extension, a wonderful double-height space with a big limestone hearth and a Belgian wood-burning stove made by Bodart & Gonay. Skylights keep the space bathed in light, and the rear garden can be accessed through three different glass doors.

Overlooking the space is a stylish mezzanine that the owner uses as a home office but could also be used as a relaxing place to read or even do a bit of yoga.

There are two big double bedrooms upstairs. The main bedroom to the front used to be two small rooms, but now commands a double aspect. The back bedroom has a charming balcony wrapped in wisteria overlooking the back garden. Both bedrooms have roomy en suites.

There is tongue-and-groove maple flooring throughout the house, and the kitchen features solid timber fittings with granite worktops and upstands. There is also planning permission to add a further 60sq m extension to the rear of the house should you so desire.

No 13 Lansdowne Park, which has a BER of D1, is for sale through estate agent Owen Reilly, seeking €1.1 million.