Concrete investment in a rock solid high-profile suburban location

ADARE on the Rochestown Road is a bit of a legend - because of its structure.

A bomb-proof house with a block-on-flat outer leaf, solid concrete floors on both levels, and a massed concrete staircase, has allowed it to pass faultlessly through an evaluation by one of the most stringent engineers in the city.

Now, the bastion is back on the market, its third outing since built some 20 years ago, and this time it has a guide price of €950,000.

The posher the house, the greater the amount of 'wasted space' and this house is no exception - it has two galleries on first floor level overlooking the ground floor.

The main gallery is part of a sweeping curve of staircase supported by a classical pillar, which creates a very high impact hallway. It's modern but grand and while the staircase is stoutly built, it has delicate Georgian balusters and a mahogany handrail.

The 3,500, square foot property is being sold by Malcolm Tyrrell of Cohalan Downing & Associates. Down the road, a similar property, Spindlewood, is now climbing towards the upper 900s for selling agent Sheila O'Flynn of Sherry FitzGerald, and there are reports that another period-style property on large grounds is soon to be launched in the same area for twice that amount.

Thus, a cornucopia of Rochestown properties are now on the market, an event which doesn't happen often, and which will give buyers in the €1 million and €2m-plus bracket, something to think about.

Adare fits the family market perfectly, but it's also an adult house with an attention to detail that's near perfect.

Made over by its present owners, it has a state of the art Shaker kitchen with granite worktop, which includes an eminently practical island unit. In fact, that's the beauty of this house, it looks lovely, but it also works. This reaches its high point in the back garden where the hard landscaping is so thoughtful it includes a rainy day niche for barbecuing, as well as eating, sunning and playing areas.

Internally, the rooms run into each other and glass doors allow light to run from back to front, but imperceptibly so. Every room is its own space and can function separately as either living room, sunroom, family room, or dining room.

And there are two staircases: not for the upstairs/downstairs reason, but to separate formal from informal areas and allow direct access from the kitchen to the playroom on the upper level and from the car-parking area at the front to the utility and garage.

The house has two storeys, with the large master and en suite guest room at the top level and three children's rooms on the first level, with a book-lined gallery overlooking the kitchen as a connecting point between playroom and bedrooms.

The other gallery has some easy chairs and a large roof-light overlooking the front garden.

This is shrouded from the road by a mixed boundary of tall trees and at the back, the much-maligned leylandii form an impenetrable and private barrier from the neighbours.

Adare ticks lots of boxes: it's got the right side address, it's five minutes from Douglas, has the requisite amount of bedrooms and is not stratospheric in its guide price.

The other important stuff is there, too: it has a lovely feel, needs no more money and has a proper play house in the back garden.