The last time number 16 Leeson Street Upper came on the market, in 2004, the selling agent noted it needed “complete refurbishment” – though the boarded-up window probably gave interested buyers their first clue that they were in for a serious spend on the three-storey over-basement period property. The blurb further suggested that the property “would be suitable for a number of uses including an elegant home, residential investment property, luxurious guesthouse or office”.

The eventual buyers chose the second option and once the builders had left – in what must have been a lengthy and costly refurbishment project on the protected structure – it became an investment property.

Now for sale again, the 278sq m house, in a fine terrace beside the canal and a short stroll to St Stephen’s Green, is a family home with a simple layout. There are two principal rooms on each floor: two interconnecting reception rooms off the fine entrance hall, two bedrooms above that, one en suite, and two more bedrooms, one en suite, at the top of the house where the ceilings are higher than is often found at the top floor of properties of this period.

There’s a good three-storey return with the roomy family bathroom on one level and a small room in the hall floor return described as a fifth bedroom but more probably will be used as a home office.

If new owners aren’t investors, and are buying it for its glorious period proportions, they might seek to return the first-floor double bedroom – a vast high ceilinged space with two tall windows looking out over Leeson Street – to its original use, as a grand drawing room. The two reception rooms down at hall level are relatively small as their original purpose was likely as a welcome parlour and study.

Down at basement level – you can see the ankles of passersby on the busy street – is the large contemporary eat-in kitchen, opening into a family room and then out to the patio and on to the grassy garden enclosed by original cut stone walls. A well-fitted utility and guest toilet is in the return.

Number 16 Leeson Street Upper is for sale for €1.75 million through selling agent DNG. There is no private parking (a permit allows parking around the corner), which may be a potential drawback for buyers at this level of the market, although its central location, good transport links and period townhouse appeal could make owning a car less of a priority.