Pick of the crop in Sandymount

12 St John's Road £850,000+

A terraced three-bedroom townhouse at 12 St John's Road Sandymount carries a guide price of £850,000-plus prior to auction through Sherry FitzGerald on June 14th. The Victorian house is owned by the chairman of Independent Newspapers Ireland, David Palmer, and his wife, novelist Elizabeth Palmer. They have owned the house since in 1996.

Number 12 is an elegant early Victorian house with manicured gardens front and back and a sunny aspect to the rear.

The house is set back from the road and one disadvantage is that there is no off-street parking. Behind the fashionably black front door is a smart interior that extends to about 2,200 sq ft and has plenty of space for entertaining. It is likely to appeal to people seeking an easily managed base in Dublin, or to couples trading down from larger houses in the area. Off the entrance hall are two interconnecting reception rooms decorated in shades of creamy yellow and white, with luxurious white curtains and pale carpets. Both rooms have impressive period fireplaces and attractive ceiling roses. Light streams from front to back through tall sash windows.

Upstairs, there is a large family bathroom on the return, which is decorated in dark green and with Victorian-style fittings.

There are two bedrooms upstairs, with the main room running the full width of the house. It has two sash windows overlooking the front garden. The second bedroom, a comfortable double, is currently used as a study.

There is a third bedroom on the return between the hall and garden levels. Downstairs is a large kitchen that opens into a very good diningroom with French doors to the garden. This part of the house has a rustic feel with warm pink walls, polished terracotta tiles in the kitchen and a timber floor in the diningroom, where there is a large, open fireplace fitted with a cast-iron stove.

There is also a utility room and a lavatory at this level, and an entrance to the front garden. The back garden is nicely landscaped with a good area of lawn flanked by curved flower beds. There is pedestrian access to a rear access to a laneway.