Whenever you see a student or someone in low-paid employment depicted living in a great, city-centre apartment on TV – Monica’s apartment in Friends is a classic example – you can take it for granted that the writers stretched their poetic licence regarding what their character could realistically afford. That has in fact been the case when it comes to the penthouse duplex apartment at 116 Grafton Street, which was bought two years ago by a New Yorker studying at Trinity College Dublin – for €1.6 million, according to the Property Price Register – making it the ultimate high-end student pad most of us could have only dreamed of over a lacklustre Pot Noodle.
Floor-to-ceiling windows from the property look right across to the entrance of Trinity, meaning the current owner did not have to walk too far to lectures. Unless another deep-pocketed scholar comes along, it is likely this property will be bought by an overseas buyer as a Dublin bolt-hole; the majority of inquiries so far have been from such people, according to Louise Kenny, the selling agent for Lisney Sotheby’s International Realty.
Accessed from a door beside the Lush Cosmetics shop front on Grafton Street, the first cool feature about the penthouse is that it is accessed from a lift that can open to the lower floor, to the bedrooms, or the top floor, directly into the living space. The top floor is bright and open plan, book ended by two outdoor terraces. The kitchen is in the centre of the space, with wooden units, stainless-steel countertops and a large rectangular roof light overhead. An inset is cut out of the kitchen splashback so you can gaze out at the comings and goings at Trinity as you whip up a meal.
Toward the rear of the floor is a breakfast bar against the wall, made from a mahogany railway sleeper with industrial-style pipes as brackets. There is also a guest WC here. A rear terrace, where the decking needs some repairing in places, is a nice spot for a barbecue with views of the Spire and the northside of the city. To the front of the floor is the bright living area, which opens on to a second terrace overlooking Grafton Street that has faux-grass underfoot and ornate columns of the building’s facade. It has to be said, the layout of the home would entice the most curmudgeonly of residents to throw a massive party.
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If you do not fancy taking the lift, there are stairs behind the kitchen leading to the lower floor. The main bedroom is a huge space to the front with a romantic arched sash window out to the front and a smaller window to the side, so you can still keep an eye on Trinity. There are wooden floors underfoot and high ceilings making the space feel huge. There is a big en suite shower room, with marble-effect tiles throughout, and a dressing area with built-in storage.
The second bedroom to the rear is also en suite and has a small balcony to the rear which would look great filled with plants. On top of the en suite shower room there is a free-standing bath in the bedroom, so those who fancy watching a crime drama while having a soak are well catered for.
Extending to 168sq m (1,808sq ft) with a C1 Ber, this high-end offering on Dublin’s premier shopping street is on the market through Lisney Sotheby’s International Realty, seeking €1.95 million.
