Terrace with harbour views
NUMBER 14 Church Street in Howth, Co Dublin, last sold in November 2016, according to the Property Price Register, when it fetched €525,000. It’s now back on the market with the same estate agent for €600,000 — an increase of just over 14%.
The house had already been extensively renovated by the time of the 2016 sale, so there is not a major investment to account for the price increase. But in the intervening 18 months alongside 10pc plus per annum property price inflation, it has also become a lot more stylish.
Two years ago Number 14 was a tidy if rather ordinary terraced house done out in neutral colours — albeit one blessed with stellar sea views. Today it’s a place of much more taste and interest, having been decorated in a way that enhances its pierside fisherman’s cottage charm.
Number 14 is across the street from the ruins of Howth Abbey and half a kilometre from the DART station, and is part of a 19th-century streetfronting terrace facing north towards Howth Harbour.
It’s bigger than it looks from the front, standing at 1,184 sq ft on two floors. That includes three bedrooms placed sensibly enough on the ground floor, so as to save the best of the views for the living rooms. Two of the bedrooms have sliding doors to a south-facing courtyard at the back of the house, and one also has an en-suite shower.
The first floor, then, consists of a fitted kitchen roughly 12ft by seven foot, with integrated appliances, another shower room and the best room in the house — an open-plan living room and dining room with views of the harbour. Running the full width of the house, this room measures about 14ft by 23ft and has twin cast-iron fireplaces and access to a south-facing rear balcony. The agent is Sherry FitzGerald Sutton (01) 839 4022 and the asking price is €600,000.