The sale of the last remaining period house on Dublin’s Duke Street is expected to attract interest from a range of parties including high-end retailers, restaurateurs, cafes and boutique hoteliers. Number 17, the current home of the Duke Street Gallery, is being offered to the market by Nicholas Corson of agent Finnegan Menton with the benefit of vacant possession at a guide price of €2 million.
Located between Grafton Street and Dawson Street and directly opposite Marks & Spencer and the well-known Duke pub, the subject property briefly comprises a four-storey over-basement building with a net internal area of 2,675sq ft (248.4sq m) and a gross internal area of 3,550sq ft (330sq m).
Dating from 1720 to 1730, number 17 bears the distinction of being the only remaining period house on Duke Street to have retained its original front facade fully intact. The property’s interior is notable, too, according to the National Inventory of Architectural Heritage, for its retention of a rare example of a timber-framed partition wall with brick nogging. The inventory adds that number 17 and its neighbour provide “important historical and architectural context in Duke Street, in the retail heart of Dublin, and is an excellent example of sympathetic refurbishment”.
The property is in commercial use as an art gallery at the hall and first-floor levels, with ancillary storage on the second floor, a partially refurbished but unused third floor, and a former wine bar at basement level, which has separate street access and a small rear yard.
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Number 17 has an planning objective of “Z5 – City Centre” under the Dublin City Development Plan 2022-2028. This designation allows for a wide variety of uses in principle, subject to planning permission. These include offices, retail, restaurant, cafe, hotel or residential.
The title is freehold and the property is being offered for sale with full vacant possession.