It’s not hard to see why Montpelier Place has been designated an architectural conservation area in the Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown County Development Plan 2010-2016. Off Temple Hill, in Blackrock, Co Dublin, it’s an atmospheric cul- de-sac with terraces of handsome double-fronted period townhouses built in the early 1800s.

In less than a year, two houses have sold on this short street, tucked away off busy Temple Hill. Number 3 Montpelier Place went for €855,000 and number 1 for €980,000. Both were fully renovated, and Number 1 is considerably larger, with a smart modern extension.

Number 2, which sits between those two houses, is now for sale through Sherry FitzGerald for €900,000.

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The current owner, who has lived here for 10 years, has done a good deal of renovation – most notably digging out the basement to get a better head height – but more work could be done.

In its current layout, the 152sq m (1,630sq ft) double-fronted house has five bedrooms, three with en suites. The first of the en-suite bedrooms is at hall level – the livingroom is one side of the hall, the bedroom on the other. New owners are likely to convert this bedroom back into a livingroom.

Upstairs are two more en suite bedrooms, and in the basement – accessed by a steep flight of stairs – are two smaller bedrooms. Again new owners will probably rework the entire basement area to enlarge the kitchen, perhaps incorporating the TV room, which doesn’t have a window, into an eat-in kitchen. That’s if they don’t extend out to the long garden, which has vehicular access from Temple Hill.

Number 2 is a house with some history. The writer and Fenian Charles Kickham (1828-1882) lived here.

There seems to be some confusion about the Montpelier Place address.

The agent lists it as Monkstown – and sold number 3 as such. However Savills, when it sold number 1, went with the planning people at Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown Co Council, whose conservation plan lists it as Blackrock, as does the Butler’s Pantry deli at the end of the terrace.