House builders will be interested in a half-acre property in Sandycove, Co Dublin, that will be auctioned by Lisney on June 23rd. Ard Mhuire, at 40 Elton Park, carries a guide price of £600,000-plus but given its obvious development potential it could make closer to £1 million. Nearby, Sorohan Builders has been granted permission Dun Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council to build 37 two-storey and three-storey houses on a two-acre site behind Breffni Terrace and Castlepark Road. Ard Mhuire stands on a corner site with extensive road frontage and its grounds could accommodate a small development of townhouses or apartments. There is considerable infill development in Sandycove already, with houses like those in Dundela Haven, a short walk from this site, providing retirement homes for people trading down from big houses in the area.

At present, the site consists of an Edwardian house in a very private garden with an extensive orchard that has been home to the same family for many years. The house is in need of refurbishment but has most of its original features.

Lisney agent Peter Kieran believes that a buyer interested in the style of the period might wish to retain and modernise the house while keeping those features. At 1,800 sq ft, it is much larger than it appears from the outside: there are 4/5 bedrooms, and several reception rooms.

A square hallway with oak beams in its high ceiling opens on two sides into the main reception rooms. On one side is a diningroom and a drawingroom, with a door into a small conservatory with a red-tiled floor at the side of the house. To the other are two more rooms, one used currently as a study, the other as a bedroom, both with handsome fireplaces with oak mantelpieces, brass hoods, and tiled insets. In two of the rooms, there are distinctive circular leaded windows, and in many of the rooms, square bay windows. There is a family bathroom at this level, and down a few steps from the front hall, the kitchen, with its original red cobblestoned floor, and scullery off it.

Upstairs, past built-in bookcases on the landing, are three bedrooms. Like the downstairs rooms, some of these feature square bay windows and unusual corner windows - one of which yields a glimpse of the sea.

There is one garden in lawn at the back of the house. The large orchard has pear and plum trees.