Small wonders: two-beds with two very different budgets

73 Lansdowne Road, Ballsbridge, Dublin 4

Description: Distinctive, two-bedroom semi-detached house

Agent: Sherry FitzGerald

Hundreds of thousands of people will recognise this house at 73 Lansdowne Road – they’ll have walked by it on the way in and out of the Aviva Stadium, which is just across the road. The two-storey wide-fronted mid-20th century house is distinctive – quite different from its neighbours further along this Ballsbridge road, as it is not a typical Lansdowne Road house, which tends to be a large Victorian redbrick.

Sherry FitzGerald has put a price of €1 million on the two-bedroom semi-detached property, which may put it in the sights perhaps of someone who has sold big in the Dublin 4 area and who wants to trade down but would prefer an easy-to-manage small house to an apartment.

Cottage style

Number 73 was built in a cottage style, two main rooms downstairs on either side of the hall, two double bedrooms upstairs with a kitchen at the back. The current owners changed the layout somewhat and extended by adding a large conservatory at the rear and opening up the ground floor so that the kitchen, livingroom and conservatory flow into each other to create a bright, good-sized living area. It now has 121sq m / 1,300sq ft of living space. They also turned one of the downstairs rooms at the front – the one on the left-hand side of the hall – into a very large shower-room. It’s such a smart, contemporary job that new owners will probably keep it as is and not turn it back into a reception room.

It’s a pretty-looking house and it has clearly been well decorated and well maintained over the years. The bespoke kitchen is painted timber with stone worktops and chequerboard floor tiles while upstairs the bathroom and small en suite in one of the bedrooms have been updated.

The front garden is gravelled over and there is parking for several cars. There’s an electric feed to the double entrance gates but the owners didn’t get around to connecting it; new owners most certainly will for easy access. There’s a good-sized back garden.

When it was built it was probably a detached house, but several owners ago the side garden was sold and a small house built on the site; hence number 73 is semi-detached.

Constantine Lodge, 3 Northumberland Place, Dún Laoghaire

Description: Two-bed Victorian lodge with two outdoor spaces

Agent: Sherry FitzGerald

Constantine Lodge is a Victorian property located on Northumberland Place in Dún Laoghaire. Built in the mid-1800s, it takes its name from Constantine Phipps, Earl of Musgrave and Lord Lieutenant of Ireland from 1835 to 1839. As viceroy to King William IV, the Earl’s lodgings would have been far more decadent, with summers spent in Viceregal Lodge which is now Áras an Uachtaráin and winters in Dublin Castle.

The lodge was purchased by Annie and Philip Murphy seven years ago. The couple gave the house a complete makeover, with a new roof and insulation, and further renovations to the interior. The result is a light-filled home and, although fairly small at 64sq m (668sq ft), the property is full of character.

The bright livingroom has double-aspect windows, one of which is full height and overlooks the garden located on the west side of the house running parallel to the road but silenced by deep beech-hedging.

A second outdoor space, an east-facing Indian sandstone patio, is off the master bedroom. A smaller bedroom, bathroom and kitchen lie to the rear of the house.

Constantine Lodge is the approximate size of many city centre apartments and would make a great alternative to apartment living, especially with the two outdoor areas. The fact that the property is on one level may also suit an older couple trading down, as it is also just a few minutes walk to Dún Laoghaire.

The Murphys are moving to a larger home to accommodate their growing family and so they have placed Constantine Lodge on the market through estate agent Sherry FitzGerald with an asking price of €495,000.