Unloved Dublin 4 labourer’s cottage for €500,000

A three-bed Victorian cottage behind the Schoolhouse Hotel near the Grand Canal in Dublin 4 has been empty for 10 years and needs everything doing to it – but may attract buyers who want an own-door property within walking distance of the city centre.

Number 7, Estate Cottages, Northumberland Road, is one of a dozen terraced brick cottages built in the 1890s on this quiet road. The 74sq m (800sq ft) house is for sale through Finnegan Menton for €500,000, and would likely cost from around €120,000 to €200,000 to extend and renovate, according to builder Kevin Moran.

Interior designer Basil Collins was its last owner and the last person to do up the cottage over 30 years ago when it was extended from its original two rooms. The cottages were originally built for labourers on the Pembroke Estate, and apparently back then only Protestants could rent one.

Accommodation includes a living room, kitchen, and two bedrooms downstairs, and a bedroom up a steep ladder stairs on the mezzanine level. There is a decent-sized courtyard at the back with a gate offering access down a narrow lane to the end of the terrace.

There is room to extend the property at the back, and still have a bit of patio, subject to planning permission – the cottages are protected structures. It might be possible to do a dormer-style extension with Velux rooflights, says Moran – several other houses on the road got planning permission fairly recently to build big extensions.

Kitchen extension

Moran suggests reinstating the ceiling in the front room, putting two bedrooms upstairs, and create a new modern kitchen extension at the back.

Other work would include reslating the roof – “hopefully the roof timbers are okay” – replumbing, rewiring and installing heating. A single-storey extension could cost around €120,00, a double-storey, €200,000.

Agent Glenn Burrell of Finnegan Menton compares the asking price to that for two-beds in nearby glitzy new apartment development Lansdowne Place, where 102-130sq m (1,100-1,400sq ft) two-beds are selling off plans for €900,000. He believes the location, the lower price and the fact it has its own door access – and no management fees – make Number 7 an attractive alternative.