Over 30 years ago the owner of a grand Victorian house on St John’s Road in Sandymount suggested to her son, a professional photographer starting out, that the stables to the rear of their home might make a good studio for his work or perhaps a combined home and studio.
And that’s what happened: attached to the outbuildings, he built a large, two-storey, brick structure which became his home and studio space, the interior designed to be flexible and to evolve over the years as it also became a family home.
Spread over 294sq m/3,164sq ft this is a striking, one-of-a-kind property, which will appeal to buyers looking for something quirky and different in this sought-after neighbourhood. Sandymount’s Martello tower and the sea are at the end of the road, and number 18 St John’s Road is accessed through electric gates, down a long driveway and unseen from the road.
The downstairs living areas – and there are three principal rooms, two living rooms and a kitchen – are all grand in scale. The most dramatic is on one side of the house, a double-height living room with vaulted ceiling with exposed beams, reclaimed honey-coloured wide-plank polished floorboards and a woodburning stove. Vast roof lights high up in the timber ceiling throw light down into the space.
Spiral staircase
This living room opens to the side of the house, via oversized doors set into a deep concrete architrave, where there is a pretty west-facing paved patio with raised deck and low-maintenance planting. In this lofty room, a wide spiral staircase leads to a mezzanine level – the decorative cast-iron Victorian fireplace in the seating area up here is a charmingly eccentric touch. A cosy study area – lit by a neon wall sign – it is tucked under the mezzanine in the corner of the living room. Also up here are three double bedrooms, one with en suite and a family bathroom. The fourth bedroom, also double and en suite, is downstairs.
On the other side of the entrance hall are two rooms, a vast kitchen opening into a room used as a games room – there’s a snooker table in place now but it could easily become another comfortable living room. It has an open storage area in its pitched roof; now used by the owners for surfboards and the like, it could perhaps be incorporated into the living space.
Urban loft
The eat in-kitchen – in what was once the studio – has recently been remodelled, with sleek white units topped with white stone and with a vast island fitted with appliances that include a wine fridge. There’s also a prep area with a sink and a utility room.
Style-wise it is the sort of kitchen dining area you might expect to find in an urban loft. This side of the house opens out to the second garden, this one in lawn. The original coach house is now a garage – there is vehicular access from a lane running behind St John’s Road.
Traditionalists looking for similar square footage in a top location in this price range are likely to opt for a two-storey-over-basement period property. Buyers interested in something quite unlike many of the more typical mews properties sometimes found in these well-located suburbs will at least want to give this one-off property a look.
There’s parking to the front for a few cars although the family bikes on display indicate that the convenient location has made them more cyclists than drivers. The owners are now planning a move out of Dublin and have put number 18 St John’s Road on the market through Wyse seeking €2.5 million.
