Victorian updated into a fine family home

Dublin 6: Bernice Harrison visits a terraced redbrick that has been generously updated

Now that just about all the Victorian redbricks in Dublin 6 have been listed so that every change requires planning permission, buyers are naturally drawn to houses that have been completely refurbished.

Interest in 9 Windsor Road, a terraced four-bedroom house, is likely therefore to be high as the current owners have extended and completely renovated it. It carries a guide of €1 million prior to auction through Lisney on February 25th.

The guide may prove to be on the low side. Windsor Road, which is located off Palmerston Road, is a sought-after address. A house next door sold two years ago for €765,000 and it needed complete refurbishment - and other houses that have sold on the road since then have exceeded the €1 million mark.

This is a really fine family home with 232 sq m (2,500 sq ft). The current owners bought it in 1996 and, as well as the basics (plumbing, heating and son on), they added a large kitchen extension and changed the first floor return so that it is now a full size en suite bathroom to the main bedroom. It is lived in as a four-bedroom house. It is three-storey at the back, and the smallest bedroom is at the top of the house. Also at this level is a shower room and a further double bedroom.

On the first floor they use the largest room, the one that runs the width of the house to the front, as an airy livingroom. The main bedroom is off the first floor return and is a good-sized double with a large en suite. Elsewhere, the owners were keen to maintain the period details and, in the en suite bathroom, they went all out with a free-standing bath, wooden panelling, overhead cistern and Victorian-style showerhead. At hall level there is a reception room to the front and down a couple of steps on the way to the kitchen is a further room. This is currently used as a bedroom but it would be an ideal playroom. In this back hall, the under-the-stairs area has been well planned with a guest wc as well as a utility cupboard. The kitchen is smart looking with maple units on either side, a black Stanley range and polished black granite worktop. In the centre is a large island unit and there is also space for a good-sized dining table.

The back of the house is south-facing with a long back garden, nicely landscaped and paved for low maintenance and there is a garage at the end of the garden.