“At the age of four, I had declared I wanted to be an architect,” says Justin Treacy, who has spent the past 30 years in architectural design.
As a director with RKD for more than eight years from the period 2011-2020, he oversaw a million square feet of workspace fit-out alone in 2017 and, with his team, was responsible for the 35,000sq m (376,737sq ft) One Microsoft Place campus in South County Business Park and LinkedIn’s new headquarters for Europe, the Middle East and Africa, at Wilton Place in Dublin city centre.
He joined Perkins and Will as principal in 2020, where key clients include Citi, Microsoft, Indeed and KPMG.
So it’s fair to say that design and its appreciation runs deep within his life. “I am a massive fan of art deco and, at about the age of 10, someone gave me a book on International Style [an architectural style developed in the 1920s and 1930s, closely related to modernism] and I have been totally obsessed with it since.”
When Argyle, an art deco house on Station Road in Glenageary, came up for sale, “I told my wife Sonia, who was pregnant at the time, ‘That’s where we’re going to live.’ But she cried when I told her and said the place looked like a public toilet.”
Treacy describes the house at that time as “a modest enough three-up three-down in its original condition” with a twin property next door. “As far as we can make out, it was developed by a local man who lived on nearby Albert Road. We suspect they were influenced strongly by the architect Michael Scott’s house in Sandycove, [Geragh,] which was built at the same time.” It is unique to the area, as most other homes in this location are single-storey Regency-type villas or large arts-and-crafts piles.
The twin houses appear to have been owned by the same individuals since the 1940s: “We found out that a brother and sister owned each of the houses shortly after they were built in 1936, and they appear to have been the only owners until we bought it.”
He describes Argyle as being “totally unlivable” at the time of purchase in 2007 “so we stripped it right back and basically replaced everything”.
He extended across two floors, which gave a kitchen and dining space in addition to a principal bedroom to the back. A further extension “as we kept having children” added another two-storey addition to what it is now an impressive 235sq m (2,530sq ft) home. It is in turnkey condition with five bedrooms and five reception rooms, including a media room, family room, sittingroom, kitchen-dining space and study.
It also has an ideal orientation as a south-facing garden lies to the rear.
Particular attention was paid to the windows. Treacy was adamant that they try for an exact match to the metal horizontal-pane originals. “We found that Carlson Windows do them, who also do Crittall style [after the English company who pioneered and standardised the steel window industry] and they’re still in really good condition.” The Ber rating is C3.
The kitchen by Dada, which the couple first saw on a holiday to Italy, has been given an upgrade whereby base cabinets are now painted while the upper units still retain their Italian walnut facade. “When I originally saw it I thought, ‘I’m having that’, as the kitchen was quite architectural and in its recent upgrade we have used Carara marble on the splashbacks and island”. With high-end Miele and Siemens units, the kitchen is lovely as is the dining space which works really well with parquet flooring underfoot.
Treacy describes the reception rooms, which all connect as they meet at a centre hall, as “broken plan” rather than open plan. “It really works as a build as areas can be closed off or you can open everything up for parties. It has the option to be formal while also being an informal house.”
Five bedrooms lie upstairs, two of which are en suite, alongside a luxurious family bathroom. The principal, with lovely views to the back garden, and second bedroom have Presotto fitted wardrobes and, like the rest of the property, are well thought out with particular attention to detail such as dimmable recessed lighting and five amp circuits.
Attention to lighting is also evident in the back garden, illuminating the immaculate planting, where neat box hedging frames lollipop topiary and white mop head hydrangea.
Treacy says every time he drives through the gates (that benefit from dual entrances), “I still get a buzz from the house and am always tinkering with it. It was brilliant during lockdown as three of our four daughters were home, and though all of us were working or studying online, the layout really worked for us all.”
With the family grown up he is on the lookout for another project, but on a smaller scale than this home. Argyle is now on the market through Sherry FitzGerald, seeking €1.95 million.
