A large detached house at 32 Herbert Park in Dublin 4, bought in 1985 for £182,000, was sold yesterday for £5.3 million. The sum paid at auction for the turn-of-the-century house is easily the highest so far achieved at auction for a Dublin 4 house.
The buyer is a wealthy Irishman with business interests in the US. According to his agent, Mr Sean Davin, he plans to spend at least another £500,000 on upgrading the seven-bedroom house, which was owned by an American-based couple, Michael and Ann Flynn, who had rented it to the Moroccan embassy since the mid-1990s.
Two years ago another detached house at 36 Herbert Park was sold at auction for £1.56 million. Both stand on a quarter of an acre of gardens.
The record price for a Dublin house sold at auction was set in June 1998 when a British businessman, Mr Terry Coleman, paid £5.9 million for Sorrento House on 1.5 acres of gardens overlooking the coast in Dalkey. He has since been refused planning permission to extend the house.
Lisney, the selling agents for 32 Herbert Park, originally quoted a guide price of £2.5 million but subsequently moved it up to £3 million because of the high level of interest.
Mr Tom Day of Lisney, who conducted yesterday's auction, attributed the high price to the fact that few detached houses have come on the market in Dublin 4 during the past two years, despite an ever-increasing demand from families who want to move close to the city centre to avoid traffic problems.
Herbert Park has become one of the most expensive residential roads in Dublin because of its proximity to the city and due to being on the edge of a particularly well-maintained public park. There was a packed auction room when bidding opened at £2 million. Five people chased the house, offering individual bids of £250,000 until it was declared "on the market" at £3.5 million. The bidding continued until the price hit the £5 million mark. At that stage, Mr Davin upped the ante with a final bid of £300,000 which brought the auction to an end.
The three-storey house is exceptionally spacious with almost 4,800 sq. ft of floor space, including two interconnecting reception rooms and a breakfast room. One of the seven bedrooms leads to a big first-floor conservatory. The garden includes a purpose-built garage with its own clock tower and basement games room. It could be converted into a mews house because it has a separate entrance off Argyle Road.
