Lofty city living in two apartments in Temple Bar and Rialto

20 Scarlet Row, Temple Bar, Dublin 2

A two-bedroom, light-filled top floor duplex with views of Dublin landmarks, the river Liffey and Christ Church Cathedral

Agent: McGuirk Beggan Property

Price: €400,000

Temple Bar may be better known now for revelling tourists, buskers and souvenir tat but for a brief period at the end of the last millennium parts of this city centre district were at the vanguard of Irish architecture.

The Scarlet Row apartment block was built in 2001 as part of the regeneration plans for the old city that comprised Cow’s Lane, a stepped pedestrian street flanked by apartment blocks and retail on both sides.

Five architecture firms were enlisted to build very different propositions cheek by jowl with each other. McGarry Ní Eanaigh, whose best-known public works include Smithfield Plaza and the Liffey Boardwalk, designed Scarlet Row and won an RIAI Award in 2002 for the development.

Number 20 is a top floor duplex accessed from an open gallery, one of several that run the length of a tapering central hall, five storeys high.

The property has stellar views from the tri-aspect windows of its open plan kitchen-cum-living and dining room. From the north-facing balcony there are views across the Quarter’s rooftops, and beyond the street, a section of the river Liffey in the distance. Across the street, are the Civic Offices, the controversial concrete buildings designed by one of Ireland’s best-known architects, the late Sam Stephenson. To the south at the top of Fishamble Street is the medieval magic of Christchurch.

Rooflights wash the timber floored space in light and hidden behind a half wall is an L-shaped kitchen – there is scope here to add more wall units.

The apartment is being sold unfurnished and feels smaller than it looks in the agent photographs when it was still furnished but don’t let that put you off. This is a great space that with some simple décor updates could generate a good investment return.

Its two double bedrooms are on the floor beneath, accessed via a set of steps. The rooms share the family bathroom.

The 60sqm/650sq ft property is seeking €450,000 through agent McGuirk Beggan who sold another two-bed property in the same block earlier this year. Number 23 sold for €430,000 last July according to the property price register. Its configuration was slightly different and lacked the same amazing range of views. It came on the market seeking €365,000.

41 Rialto Court,  Rialto, Dublin 8

A two-bed, top floor flat in a period building, one of about eight in the complex.

Agent: Brock Delappe

Price: €195,000

For those with shallower pockets, Rialto Court is well situated just a three-minute walk from the red line Luas stop at Rialto. Number 41 is a top floor flat in a small development built in the 1870s by Guinness to house its workers. The flat is one of six in the building, itself one of eight in the overall complex.

The three-storey high redbrick housing scheme has stood in as a New York location in several film and TV series, most recently cameo-ing in the television series Quirke, based on the novel series of the same name by John Banville and starring Gabriel Byrne.

When the owner bought his walk-up apartment 10 years ago he had already rented in the scheme so knew that they were well-built and that the thick dividing walls deadened any noise transference.

He also loved its period features, especially the open fire and tiled surround, something he discovered when he lifted the carpets to sand the pitch pine floors. As well as installing new windows, he stripped the walls back to the original brick.

From the living room you can see the Dublin Mountains. The kitchen is to the rear and gets morning light.

Judicious use of sliding doors makes the most of this property’s small size, 38sq m/309sq feet of space. There are two bedrooms, one double with a built-in wardrobe, the second is really a single and has a free-standing wardrobe. The bathroom could do with some upgrading.

The property is for sale for €195,000 through agents Brock Delappe estate agents.