All Summer, one mews development in Dublin 4 has been getting a great deal of attention because of its prominent location near the junction of Leeson Street Upper and Waterloo Road, and its totally contemporary design.
It shouts its presence from its curved verdigris copper rooftops on the site, which is behind two houses on Leeson Street Upper at the corner of Waterloo Lane.
The height, style and density of the three houses have already horrified some D4 residents who are used to a more sedate-looking cityscape. It is most unusual, for example, for a mews house to be more than two storeys high but these are three storeys - the top floor being in the vaulted roof. However the developers, a professional couple, have battled on and now the three will surely serve as a precedent in terms of planning requirements for other mews developments.
The best view is from Appian Way. From that vantage point the barrel vaulted green rooftops shine, the heavily grouted brickwork stands out and the great sliding oak window in the side wall announce it is an uncompromisingly modern development.
The mews were designed by Dublin architecture practice deBlacam and Meagher, which the clients first approached with the idea in 1996. The planning process was lengthy with objections, appeals and requests for time. The builders, who have been on site since last year, have been badgered by curious passers-by, wondering what on earth the building is. Most wonder if it is a small industrial unit of some sort or, at the very least, offices.
The extraordinary thing about the mews houses is that they were built as a rental investment. Typically, such a small-scale developer would be more conservative in terms of design - think of all that Victorian and Georgian pastiche that's down every mews lane. However the owners, who are dipping their toes into property development for the first time, knew deBlacam and Meagher's work and felt it was the chance to build something special. And once they commissioned the award-winning practice, they gave the architects a free hand.
Entrance to the mews is from the newly named Waterloo Place. This is a private mews lane behind the terrace of houses on Leeson Street Upper which previously had no name. Dublin Corporation has agreed to the name and so the new houses, number 84, 85, 86, now have a proper address.
The three units are tall, thin, two-bedroom houses - two are identical in layout and size, while the third is slightly bigger. The largest is the corner house with its dramatic copper panels on the side wall and that smart sliding oak panel to cover its large picture window. All three have identical recessed entrance porches lined with oak and incorporating the entrance to an integrated garage. This, incidentally, appears suitable only for a rather small city runaround car and even then would demand the sort of parking skill that eludes most of us.
The elemental materials that are found throughout the house announce themselves immediately. The European oak outside gives way to American oak used extensively inside. It is on the steps of the staircase as well as the handrail and on the floor in the living/kitchen area.
For the ground floor the architects have chosen a most unusual material. Instead of the expected polished limestone that seems to be in every modern development, the entire floor at this level is paved in a narrow, deep red brick from France. With its irregular shaped grey metal windows, exposed brick and copper, the design style leans more towards the industrial than the domestic. The copper roof that has drawn so much attention to the building was imported from Germany. It came preweathered, hence the instant verdigris colour.
According to Pierre Long, project architect since 1997, the houses are a very modest 4 metres wide. Standing in the first-floor, open-plan living area it is difficult to believe that so much light and space could be fitted into such narrow confines. They are 12 and half metres deep so in the livingroom there is space for a sleek fitted kitchen at one end, a dining area in the middle and a sizeable living area at the other end. The steep, oak staircase is designed so the houses are open plan vertically as well as horizontally. From the front door you can see right up to the top of the house and, as the architects have taken every opportunity to include windows in the design, light pours in from several sources on all levels.
All three houses have fireplaces in their living areas; two have sleek modern openings made for a gas fire, the third and largest has an extraordinary chunky-looking inglenook fireplace - a surprising sight in such a modern interior. The ground floor has the same dimensions as the first floor, but here the layout is more traditional. The garage is to the front and it incorporates a smart utility area as well as a wall of fitted cupboards, one of which conceals a large fridge freezer. At the far end of the narrow hallway is a bedroom with an en suite bathroom. There's also access to a back patio garden.
The top floor is in the vaulted roof space and it is made up of a bedroom, bathroom, and dressing area. A wall-sized sliding door cuts this private eyrie off from the rest of the house.
As these are truly urban mews the architects have incorporated that most luxurious of city features into the design - each mews has a roof garden. The garden on top of the corner mews has views looking up tree-lined Appian Way and the other two have part of the roof as a garden feature. The mews also have access to an open-plan back garden at ground level. It is paved with the same French brick as the interior ground floor. At present it appears to be not only communal to the mews but also to one of the houses to the front. While mews houses are commonly cheek by jowl with the main house, this odd arrangement and is likely to be altered over time.
The three mews houses are available to let through Hooke & MacDonald and HOK
