Brian O’Driscoll and Amy Huberman paid €150,000 less than the asking price for their new home in Rathmines, Dublin 6, according to the Property Price Register.
The couple recently bought a Victorian house on Palmerston Road, currently laid out in flats, for €1.8m. The house had been advertised for sale by Sherry FitzGerald for €1.95m.
In 2006 the same property sold for €4.6m to developers who planned to restore it as a luxury family home.
O’Driscoll, the Ireland rugby team’s record try scorer, and Huberman, an actor and author, are seeking to extend planning permission granted to its former owner to transform the house into a period home of 363 sq metres with high ceilings, traditional fireplaces and sash bay windows.
The previous owner’s plans allowed for the demolition of an extension and its replacement with an open-plan kitchen, dining room and living room but that permission expired in October.
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O’Driscoll and Huberman, who have two children, applied on November 29 to reinstate these plans, drawn up by CDP Architecture. They are awaiting a decision from Dublin city council planners.
While the house is habitable, it needs a new roof. O’Driscoll and Huberman, who currently live in Goatstown, Dublin 14, are also hoping to replace its PVC windows and recreate its original stonework at the ground-floor level.