Number 78 Kincora Road in Clontarf is one of 16 homes built in 1930 by Joseph Downes McDonald of McDonald and Downes, as an RHA exhibition to show off the De Stijl art movement, with McDonald visiting the Netherlands several times.
The cube-shaped house has a flat roof and redbrick detailing that had been painted red when the current owners bought the property in 2018, paying €920,000, according to the Residential Property Price Register.
They hired Rachel Carmody Design, an architect who had just returned to Dublin, having worked in London. This was her first Irish commission. She suggested whitewashing the brick, something she had done on a job in London but wasn’t happy with the finish, so then suggested painting it black, which matches the door and window frames.
The house had been extended but Carmody reconfigured it, adding additional space at ground-floor and first-floor levels, to give 180sq m (1,937sq ft) of accommodation across the four-bedroom home.
She took advantage of the existing volume – space below the suspended timber floors at ground level – to augment the ceiling height, replacing the floorboards with an underfloor heating system topped with porcelain tiles. At hall level, the rooms now have ceiling heights of 2.8 metres.
Louth-based Michael Dunne of Medeci Furniture did the custom kitchen, which has floor-to-ceiling units painted in darkest Railings, by Farrow & Ball. The units have knurled satin brass handles and there is storage everywhere you look, including drawers beneath window seating where each member of the family could store outdoor shoes, scarves, gloves and hats – all the clutter of winter.
The kitchen has white quartzite countertops, a natural material more durable than marble, and behind some of the many doors is a bar, an idea that is becoming as much a staple as a pantry, given that we’re all spending more time at home. Some of the storage is set very high but access is not a problem with several step ladders concealed into gaps in the units.
The 90-year-old property has an impressive A3 Ber rating, thanks to the high levels of insulation and the slim-frame aluminium windows by Vindr which have also been fitted with anti-glare treatment. The terrace off the kitchen is south-facing, and the sunny garden is delightfully large, lawned and private with trees bordering the plot.
The formal sitting room faces north and its walls have all been painted Inchira Blue, another Farrow & Ball colour, to embrace its dark aspect, Carmody explains.
Upstairs, the main bedroom overlooks the garden and has a wall of glass framing the greenery. From here you can see the Poolbeg towers and glimpses of the sea in winter, when the trees lose their leaves. It has a smart en suite and lots of wardrobe storage. There are three more double bedrooms, as well as a possible fifth bedroom in the granny flat to the rear of the house. It too has an en suite.
The semi-detached house measures 180sq m (1,937sq ft) with a further 30sq m (322sq ft) in the granny flat and has a separate side entrance, offstreet parking for several cars as well as a garage. The asking price is €1.75 million through agent DNG.
