Number 51 Powerscourt, on Mount Street Crescent, was intended as an art gallery with a penthouse overhead. The partially completed site was purchased by G&V Developments and new permission was given for three substantial apartments to be constructed. Two of the apartments sold off the market (one for €650,000 last December), and Number 1, on the ground floor, is now for sale with a spacious 117sq m (1,260sq ft) plus a 64sq m (670sq ft) terrace.
Interior designer Vanessa Hamilton joined forces with engineer Gerry Walsh, developer of the Regency-styled Victoria Lane in Rathgar, to form G&V Developments. The pair have been busy picking up derelict properties in Dublin 2, 4 and 6, and transforming them into substantial luxurious apartments.
"We work well together. Gerry has all the structural knowledge and I bring the more practical side of storage and layouts," says Hamilton, who has real estate expertise running through her veins. She is the daughter of the late estate agent Hugh Hamilton, whose last major coup was the sale of Farmleigh to the Irish government in 1999 for €29.2million.
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Fittings are opulent in 51 Powerscourt, with Villeroy and Boch sanitary ware and Siemens appliances, while the durable Jatoba hardwood flooring can be danced on all night by stilettos without marking.
The kitchen, by Kube, shares an open-plan space with the livingroom/diningroom. A recess has been fitted in the wall of the livingroom which would comfortably accommodate the largest home theatre on the market. A composite sun deck lies off a mezzanine and has an outdoor staircase to the bedroom below. Having just one bedroom in such a large apartment may be a drawback, but the expanse could be altered to accommodate a further room.
Hamilton’s primary concern in the apartment’s layout was storage, which has been addressed by the installation of 13sq m (140sq ft) of storage under the mezzanine. The spacious dressing room, with wall-to- wall units and open shoe closet, has a feminine touch, as do the shocking pink Silestone countertops in the kitchen.
In keeping with its original purpose as an art gallery, the main thing this swish high-ceilinged apartment needs is a few paintings on the walls. It is for sale through Ganly Walters, with an asking price of €845,000.
