Understated style in one of D4's lesser known streets

SANDYMOUNT: AMV €1.75M:LOW-KEY IS the mood of the moment with luxury shoppers hiding their expensive purchases in brown paper bags.

In the housing market house hunters are also being discreet. Anyone in the mood for a well-located understated home should view 10 Herbert Road, an elegant four-bedroom Regency property at one of Dublin 4’s least known addresses. Nowhere near the park of the same name, Herbert Road connects Tritonville Road and Newbridge Avenue in Sandymount.

Selling agent Sherry FitzGerald is putting number 10 to auction on November 11th, with Simon Ensor guiding €1.75 million for the house which was modernised in 2002 and has subtle additions such as French oak flooring, gas-fired central heating concealed behind radiator cabinets and double-glazing.

It’s a good-sized house of 215sq m (2,310sq ft) with plenty of original features, such as matching marble fireplaces with duck-egg blue tile inserts, shuttered sash windows and cornicing, and ceiling roses that would make a confectioner swoon.

The overall effect in the two interconnecting reception rooms is restrained rather than sugar rush. Both drawing and dining rooms remain everyday spaces and are, says the owner, ideal for the winter months. They also function as the hub of the owners’ annual Christmas parties and, with their extra-wide girth, it’s easy to see why. On the ground floor return, down three original exposed granite steps, is the kitchen dining area.

A four-door Aga is the engine driving this temperate room. An off-white painted kitchen with island and black granite countertops is in keeping with the rest of the house.

French doors to the rear open onto the east-facing and ever-so-private back garden shielded from the neighbours by a high cypress hedge, palm and fruit trees. It is half the original length, something that will appeal to downsizers.

Opening off the kitchen is the sittingroom with French doors that lead to a sandstone patio, a west-facing suntrap. It is summer all year long in this room, sighs the owner. Granite walls frame this. There’s also a utility room and guest bathroom at this level.

Upstairs on the return there is a roomy family bathroom, extended using space stolen from the first of three double bedrooms.

The spacious first-floor landing has fanlights that echo that above the front door. A Stira offers access to a sizable attic, which would make another ample-sized bedroom with plenty of room to construct a properly-proportioned staircase. The back bedroom is decorated in a soft pink that, after a decade of sludgy neutrals, feels very voguey. It’s a really well-balanced room and overlooks the garden.

The main bedroom is to the front of the house and has a shower en suite. While well proportioned, the next owner might like to explore the idea of knitting bedroom number four, a single room presently a study, into the main and creating an outstanding bathroom with natural light. There is off-street parking for up to six cars.

10 Herbert Road, Sandymount, Dublin 4

Four-bedroom period house in walk-in condition

Agent: Sherry FitzGerald