The €1.95m Ballsbridge home which became the B&B of choice for famous artists

Asking price: €1.95m

Agent: Lisney Sothebys (01) 6624511

When renowned Irish jewellery designer Melissa Curry first headed off to Paris in her 20s, eager to join the international fashion scene, she would routinely be gobsmacked by her visits home to her mum’s in Ballsbridge.

“I was meeting more famous people sat on the sofa in my mother’s living room than I was in Paris,” she says.

Her mother Finola ran the family home at No2 Sydenham Road in Ballsbridge as a Dublin 4 B&B guesthouse from 1989 onwards and it wasn’t unusual to be having dinner with strangers, often very well-known ones. Over the years,

The Curry B&B became a particular favourite spot for artists, thanks in no small part to Finola’s efforts to coalesce on accommodation with Dublin’s big galleries.

And the rules were flexible. “Although it was a B&B, if I got to know people, they’d often have dinner with us and sometimes they’d stay up talking all night,” says Finola.

Melissa adds: “I was talking to this lovely couple at dinner one night and later, Mum told me ‘that’s Heather Ackroyd and Dan Harvey’. I was gobsmacked.”

Labelled ‘Mr and Mrs Avant Garde’ by the UK press, and working together under the name Ackroyd & Harvey, the British art duo once covered a huge army barracks in Derry in grass to produce one of their world famous installations.

“Another time, there was a lady in the sitting room and Mum told me to leave her in peace. Later I find out she’s the famous American photographer Rosalind Fox Solomon. Here is one of the world’s most important photographers sat in my mum’s sitting room!”

The Illinois-born artist is famed for her gritty and intimate portraits from world conflict zones.

With hubbie James travelling the globe in his role with third-world development, Finola had been determined to find a house in Dublin that would provide both a home for her children Melissa, Richard and Cliona and a business.

Back in 1988, with a B&B in mind, the former Aer Lingus stewardess began to scour the property listings and, in particular, Dublin 4, which was established guesthouse territory at the time.

“A friend put me on to the Edwardian red-brick at No2 Sydenham Road in Ballsbridge, which was coming to market. Its location was fantastic, facing on to the RDS,” says Finola.

The events centre proved a huge generator of visitors to Dublin through its annual shows and conferences.

Another big attraction was that the property wasn’t just one house but two. Out back, a previous owner converted an outbuilding into a cottage in the 1950s.

Wholly self-contained with a kitchen, living room, bedroom and bathroom, it would later become invaluable for putting up visiting family members when the main house was full.

Number 2 was then laid out in flats and it took a year for Finola to refurbish it exactly how she wanted. The work included extending the rear, installing a new kitchen and altering some room layouts to suit its intended B&B use.

A big help was the family’s giant ‘monastic’ style dining table with chairs, but there was more furniture to be found to make this house right.

“I went to loads of auctions to find exactly the right furniture to match the era of the house,” says the Ballyhaunis born bean an tí, who engaged in plenty of creative upcycling along the way. “I put in six en-suite bedrooms as stylishly as I could.”

And while she didn’t intend her home to become the ‘Art B&B’ of Ballsbridge, her own interest in the arts and eagerness to engage leading galleries brought more painters to her door. Finola would connect with IMMA, the Hugh Lane Gallery and the Douglas Hyde, to name a few.

Among the regulars to make No2 their home from home over the years were Anne Madden, John Kindness, Markey, Louis le Broquy and Wolfgang Laib. With the RDS nearby, musicians stayed too. Finola particularly remembers the band Faithless staying over.

Guests especially raved about breakfast. Finola served pan-fried kidneys and bacon with buttered fresh herbs, a full platter of Irish cheese and homemade soda breads. And when it comes to her favourite guest, it’s in the name.

“I liked John Kindness best — he’s a lovely man and is very easy to talk to,” says Finola. And her secret to a successful guesthouse? “Hard work and more hard work. Follow your passion and always keep things personal.”

Dad James had his study to retreat to when home in Ireland. Sadly, the couple’s plan to live in the cottage following his retirement didn’t come about due to his passing.

Today, with Melissa based often in Miami (working on a jewellery collection for Richard Branson’s Virgin) and Richard and Cliona also busy, Finola has decided to retire and pass No2 Sydenham Road on to new owners.

The house is for sale through Lisney Sothebys for €1.95m. The front hall has a tiled floor and Edwardian stained-glass panelling around the front door. There’s a drawing room with a bay window leading through double doors to the dining room. Both rooms have ornate marble chimney pieces, ceiling roses and coving.

There’s a downstairs shower room and the kitchen/breakfast room has wall and floor presses, a double oven, gas hob, extractor fan and opening through to the utility.

A family room has a cast-iron chimney piece with a gas fire and double doors lead out to the garden. There’s a main bathroom with a tub on the return, with a large hot press.

The main house has six guest bedrooms with six en-suite bathrooms, as well as the main bedroom, also en suite.

Whether it remains Ballsbridge’s elegant ‘Art B&B’ in a market where boutique accommodation is increasingly sought in Dublin, or reverts to a private dwelling is up to the new owners.

The Art B&B’s bean and tí is putting her feet up.