LIKE MOST sellers caught in this depressed market, Image magazine publisher Kevin Kelly has been advised to drop the price of his lavishly refurbished home on Fitzwilliam Square if he is to have any hope of selling it.
Accordingly he has cut €2.5 million from the price of number 24, the five-storey house which first came on the market last April at €10 million. It is now for sale at €7.5 million through Sherry FitzGerald with Knight Frank marketing it internationally.
“It has to be done,” says Kelly, a little ruefully, looking around the fine mahogany furnishings of his superb upper ground floor library, with its finely woven carpets and plumped-up sofas. These are worth noting, since many of the furnishing in the early 19th century house can be bought too.
The library is for informal evenings and there’s a large study next door. On the next level – up a grand staircase and past a wide well-lit landing that leads to a kitchen fitted with discreet catering ovens – is a grand drawingroom decorated in a superb shade of old gold. Three tall sash windows overlooking the treetops of Fitzwilliam Square make this one of the most attractive drawingrooms in the city.
Overall, number 24 has 557sq m (6,000sq ft) of living space, including a self-contained flat at basement level, with the main part of the house having four bedrooms. The main bedroom occupies the entire second floor and includes a superb marble-clad en suite bathroom with a stand-alone bath in the middle.
