Finding a huge and handsome home for sale in the popular and pretty seaside town of Tenby is an exciting scenario for many house hunters that few can see through to reality unless they have the budget to match the size of the property wanted and the size of their ambition.
For most of us, a day trip or holiday at this Pembrokeshire coastal spot is as close as we will get. However, if you want a Tenby townhouse that has potential as well as size and history, that can make property hunting even harder.
But this imposing townhouse on one of the main streets in the town is offering potential to a new owner, but not inside as you might first assume - this house has it all going on at the end of the garden.
The Georgian gem for sale is one of a row of three houses on St Mary's Street that date back to the early to mid 19th century, collectively known as Olive Buildings. The house gained a Grade II listing in 1951 for being 'one of a uniform terrace of three late Georgian houses with good surviving detail'.
According to Cadw's website, the house was known in the past as The Blue Dolphin Hotel and that the Grade II listing also includes the front railings.
But as well as this large and impressive home with a substantial, private walled garden at the rear that is an island of seclusion away from the busy Tenby streets, there's a workshop right at the end of the plot.
Maybe this doesn't seem too extraordinary until you wander around the back of the block of these pretty pastel streets to Lower Frog Street adjacent to St Mary's and discover that the workshop has a street-facing facade, nestled among the pastel fronts of the neighbouring buildings.
With the correct planning consent granted the estate agent selling this property package states this could be a building plot with the potential to be transformed into a variety of functions once the workshop was demolished - how about a retail unit, or a new home, or even both.
Of course, the street is within the town's conservation area, so it would all depend on what can and cannot be done, but surely a sympathetic new facade in harmony with the properties on the street would be a bonus to the streetscene?
The main house has four floors to rummage around, and it's going to take a while as this is a beast of a building, but getting lost inside is hardly a hardship - it's a wonderful way to spend a few hours.
Start in the basement where the servants would have been busy running the household above and it is not a dark and dingy space that the word 'basement' can sometimes conjure.
The basement is a characterful area that offers a workshop, a cloakroom and a charming period kitchen with a mix of sash window, quarry tile floor, panelled door and classic vintage dresser ensuring the room is a charming specimen.
There's a door from the central hall down here that leads to a slate and stone staircase up to the pretty garden above so direct access to the outside space is a bonus - and not one that all basements can offer.
Also above the basement is the ground floor and it's a far more fancy affair. There are two large reception rooms boasting elegant marble fireplaces, huge classic Georgian windows flanked by period shutters and maybe the most eye-catching, decorative cornicing on the street.
Both rooms can also boast a decorative alcove on the wall opposite the bay window as an extra feature called a buffet arch, added surely to impress visitors to the house when it was first built, and still impressing them centuries later.
This was not somewhere to display your sausage rolls but as a recess in the wall to showcase an item of furniture that could be a sideboard that was the stopping point for food being served, or for shelving to be installed to display fancy items, or to house panelled doors into another space or just as a decorative effect.
The stripped floorboards and original panelled internal doors are still in place are a joy to see, and it's not a surprise to discover that the house has gone through a thoughtful renovation and restoration project by the current owner who is a conservation architect.
At the rear of the ground floor is a spacious utility room next to the central hall that has a door that leads onto the rear garden, and it might seem a waste that this prime section of the house next to the garden be allocated to washing clothes.
With the correct planning and listed building consent it may be possible to join this room to the grand reception room that sits in front of it to create a family room that flows into a kitchen with views out to the garden as the heart of this family home.
However, the current basement kitchen happily welcomes a table in the centre of its space, so cooking, homework time and meal times can still be enjoyed together, without any planning or building work being done at all.
Up to the first floor, or the third of the fourth if you are keeping count, and as well as the two generous bedrooms that span the whole depth of the house there's a family bathroom at the rear and a third, single bedroom at the front.
Up to the top, fourth floor and the footprint is similar - two big bedrooms either side of the central landing and stairs, a shower room to the front and an added WC at the rear.
From this top floor there are rooftop views at eye-level and street and garden views below, and just around the corner is the choice of the harbour and north beach, or south beach, depending on the corner you choose to stroll towards.
The bedrooms are all spaces that ooze character dressed with simple interior design style incorporating the elegant and unfussy fireplaces to the soft greys, pastel pinks and sunny yellow colour palettes that mimic the instantly recognisable colourful painted facades that line the cobbled streets of this very attractive town, that surround this special house.
To pick this yummy central section of The Olive Buildings will cost you offers in the region of £990,000, contact estate agent John Francis at their Tenby branch on 01834 740051 to find out more. And don't miss the best dream homes in Wales, auction properties, renovation stories, and interiors - join the Amazing Welsh Homes newsletter, sent to your inbox twice a week.
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