A quiet street of classical stone apartment buildings in soft light

Capital · Lissandre City

Sablon

properties listed · SBL · desk since 1986

Sablon is where the firm started, in two rooms above what is now a bookbinder on Rue Verane. The quarter was built in one push between 1878 and 1891, which is why the cornice line runs unbroken for four streets and why almost every apartment has the same ceiling height.

Behind the stone frontage is the old goods yard. It closed in 1983, sat empty for twenty years, and has since produced the three best conversions in the city — the Works, the Depot and the Cold Store. These are the only apartments in Sablon with genuinely modern services, and they trade at a premium of roughly a quarter over the stone streets.

The quarter is a five-minute walk from the eastern terminus and a twenty-minute walk from the river. Nobody who lives here owns a car for the purpose of commuting.

What it is actually like

Ceiling heights of 3.4 m on the first and second floors, 2.9 m above the fourth. The difference is worth more than the floor area.
Courtyard flats are two-thirds the price of street flats and considerably quieter after eleven at night.
Lifts were retro-fitted to about half the blocks in the nineties. The other half have a fine stair and no lift at all.
Parking is by resident permit, waiting list roughly nine months.

Journey times

Eastern terminus: 5 min on foot
The river: 19 min on foot
Airport: 34 min by rail
Lake Corvane: 1 h 05 by car

Stone or steel

The two halves of Sablon behave differently. Stone-street apartments are bought for the address and the proportions; yard conversions are bought for the light and the plant. Very few buyers seriously consider both.

Service charges

Expect a meaningful annual figure in the converted buildings, which carry lifts, plant and a concierge. The stone blocks are cheaper to run and more expensive to repair.

On the register in Sablon