Dublin’s historic Georgian heritage offers families the chance to live in some of the finest designed properties in the city and have a revenue stream helping to pay the mortgage. Number 26 Mountjoy Square, one of the finest examples of this architectural style, has come to market asking €1.15 million.
This terraced three-bay, four-storey Georgian over basement is one of three houses built to the centre of the terrace lining the east side of Mountjoy Square and offers 663sq m/7,136sq ft of space, allowing you to live in grandeur at the top of the house, where there are views of the Dublin mountains to the south all the way to Howth to the north, and possibly rent out some of the better rooms and basement.
Constructed by Frederick Darley and stuccadore and master builder Charles Thorp this is a house that wows, in a beautifully underworked way, from the minute you cross the threshold.
Built in the late 18th century, Jeremiah D’Olier, whom D’Olier Street is named after, one of the founders and first governors of the Bank of Ireland, called it home.
From the exterior its curved cast-iron balconettes are the only indication of the grandeur inside. A Sienna marble floor and Adams-style fireplace greet you as does the decorative frieze above and on the interior of the front fanlight. The strong use of contrasting colours helps to pick out the detail in the plasterwork throughout but it has been repainted many, many times and has lost some definition.
Mahogany doors, in the manner of the originals, balanced by dummy doors on the party wall flank the entrance hall. An original fanlight and double doors lead to the inner hall where a Portland stone cantilever staircase climbs past the round-headed stair light that washing the rear in daylight.
There are two rooms at hall level. The room to the rear has a beautiful oval ceiling plaster.
At first floor level, the grandest rooms in the house have windows that stand at least 12ft tall. The original timber six-over-six pane to lower floors and three-over-three pane to top floor sash windows have been given an internal glazing treatment that acts to keep wind chills out but means that all the original shutters have been nailed shut.
The interconnecting rooms are home to a pair of hand-carved marble chimney pieces with winged Cupid, bow and arrow in hand charging on a chariot. A Waterford crystal chandelier hangs in the drawing room, to the front and the width of the house.
There are two more floors above with enough rooms to accommodate any size family in a generous duplex fashion as well as a basement where there is a safe, cellars and catacombs to the rear.
So what’s the catch? There is very little by way of outside space, only a small north-facing yard at basement level although there is rear pedestrian access.
This property would also make a gorgeous boutique hotel or a beautiful buy between several friends. It last came to the market in 2004 asking €1.25 million and is for sale through agent DNG.
Nearby, number 81 Lower Gardiner Street, another Georgian property but with the potential to build apartments to the rear, subject to planning, has sold for €1.65 million.
Mountjoy Square is undergoing rejuvenation with plans to reinstate the historic square’s formal gardens and introduce a tearoom.
