The young family who bought 51 Ailesbury Road in 1995 moved into a house that needed, as the owner says, “pulling together”. Coming from first a Georgian house and then a Regency country house, both styles known for their symmetry, the Victorian semi-detached redbrick in the embassy belt was large – it and its neighbour have bay windows and a side hall, making them some of the larger houses on this sunny side of the street – but the layout, they felt, needed changing to make it more elegant.
It had suited its previous owners, who were then downsizing – their teenagers were in bedrooms at garden level and the kitchen was at hall level – but that was quickly changed to suit the new family. The kitchen was moved downstairs to the rear, and an extension made space for a light-filled dining-room and a family room.
Bespoke shelving
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Both rooms open out onto a paved patio. There’s a book-lined study at garden level to the front with bespoke shelving which might remain as is if the new owners are medics or from the legal profession as so many owners on this street are. Also down at this level, which has access out to the front, there is a large TV room – it was at different stages a playroom – and a well-equipped laundry room.
Later, the current owners did more work, extending at the side, adding the distinctive lantern-roofed sunroom to the front – now used as an informal dining room – and a bedroom and bathroom to the rear.
In all, the five-bedroom house has 530sq m (5,700sq ft) and, 20 years after buying, the owners are themselves downsizing. It’s likely that the cycle will repeat itself, that the new owners will themselves be a young family trading up. All the bedrooms are doubles, the grandest being the one to the front which has a good en suite.
The showstopper rooms in this house – and the ones that always catch buyers’ attention at this top level of the market – are the fine interconnecting reception rooms at hall level decorated in a particularly elegant, sympathetic style.
Poggenpohl kitchen
The most obvious modern feature is the glossy Poggenpohl kitchen installed six years ago. If new owners are looking for something to change they will probably update the family bathroom which is a little dated, otherwise they will probably be happy to take their decorating cues from the way the house is currently presented.
There is a large terrace overlooking the back garden at hall level, and a gardener maintains the beautifully planted back garden – the house sits on a quarter on an acre and there is parking to the front for five cars.
There’s a sense of privacy about this house – the front garden is screened with greenery and the back garden is fringed with trees. The French ambassador’s residence – itself up for sale at one stage before being withdrawn from the market – is next door.
The most recent sale on this prime road was number 27 which sold for €5 million. Number 51 Ailesbury Road is for sale for €5.75 million through agents Sherry FitzGerald.
