Dublin 6: Zion Lodge is a substantial detached house at 5 Zion Road in Rathgar which will be auctioned by Lisney on February 11th. The guide price is €1.45 million for the imposing Victorian villa that stretches over 298 sq m (3,124 sq ft).

It's an executors sale and Zion Lodge has been well maintained in that it has been rewired and heating has been installed, but new owners will at the very least redecorate throughout as well as putting in a new kitchen and new bathrooms. While they will have to modernise they'll be working with some rather fine raw materials.

The four rooms on the hall floor level are high ceilinged and spacious as is the entrance hallway. Throughout this level the cornice work is highly decorative and all rooms have their original white marble fireplaces, some working, others not. The tall ceilings at this level give a tremendous feeling of space and the villa-style layout means that owners can decide on how they want to live.

At present, three rooms on this level are reception rooms, including an impressive formal diningroom, the fourth is used as a bedroom. Two of the rooms interconnect making an L-shaped room that is ideal for large scale entertaining. Downstairs the garden level is above ground and there are four principal rooms, two bedrooms, an eat-in kitchen and a family room that opens out onto the garden. A family buying the house will most certainly reorganise the garden level, possibly moving the kitchen from the front of the house to the back to make best use of the 35-metre back garden.

The house is one of two on the road and, unusually for a Victorian house (built circa 1880), like its neighbour it is pebbledashed. It is set well back from the road and there is a garage to the side and off-street parking for two cars.