Hideaway built to boom as space shines

Tommy Barker reports Mount Merrion Avenue, Dublin

Sat, 21 Apr, 2018 - 01:00

Tommy Barker reports Mount Merrion Avenue, Dublin

WHEN astutely bought off the plans over 20 years ago, the owner of 3 Clonfadda Wood, off Dublin’s Merrion Avenue, got the pick of the sites. She tweaked the design, then bought some extra land, so it got an extra large garden too, a labour of love to get stuck into.

At the time, in 1997, cattle were grazing over the boundary; now this south county Dublin setting near the water in Blackrock is so prized, and land values back up so high once more, that all the cattle have long been rustled, and houses have galloped in their wake.

One thing’s for sure, few, if any, 21st-century new-builds will ever come to match the scale of No 3’s private grounds.

Such privacy, and carefully planted and tended outdoor space, with sandstone patio on the south-facing rear, is reckoned to be a key selling feature of this most comfortable red-brick 2,000 sq ft home, as it comes along for sale via James Stephenson of Norths.

Back in 1997, pre-boom, Clonfadda homes sold new for £230,000; by 2006, they had risen ten-fold, to over €2m. Mr Stephenson guides the well-kept family home at €1.35m, the same sum No 1 Clonfadda has just gone sale agreed at, while No 9 made €1.27m in 2017, so it’s very much ‘ballpark’ in more ways than one. Ballpark? There’s even a funky garden shed for barbies, parties, and matches, already in situ, along with shading pergolas, climbers, birches, bamboos, lawns, and shrubs.

The Gem Construction-built 1,950 sq ft No 3 has an easy layout of large and mostly interconnected ground-floor rooms (plus snug study with fireplace), ranged off a central hall with walnut doors, aspected to the prized gardens, and it’s hosted large family gatherings and celebrations with ease.

It has a capacious master suite, with lots of built-ins and a large en suite, three other bedroms and attic den/TV/games roms.

VERDICT: As good outside as inside.