Dublin 2: €4mFrench designer Andrée Putman was given carte blanche to design a city centre apartment, writes Property Editor Orna Mulcahy
A Dublin apartment with a stunning interior created by France's doyenne of design Andrée Putman is on the market at €4 million.
The Liffeyside penthouse is on the south side of the quays in the Aston Building, formerly the Virgin megastore and, long ago, McBirneys department store.
Twice the size of the average four-bedroom semi, it's got 304sq m (3,272sq ft) on two levels with 14 windows looking out over the river towards the Daniel O'Connell statue on O'Connell Bridge. On the downside, it has just two bedrooms, no parking and is accessed from a communal corridor in the building which also houses a vast Crunch Fitness and a supermarket.
Selling agent Savills HOK plans to market the apartment internationally and will be hoping to attract design-savvy millionaires to Aston Quay to view the museum-quality interior. Everything down to the ashtrays was designed by Putman and all the furnishings are included in the sale.
The 68 year old Frenchwoman - who designed the inside of Concorde planes in the 1980s, and New York's Morgan Hotel which set the trend for boutique hotels worldwide - was commissioned by Dublin developer Garret Kelleher to create a New York loft-style apartment with all the trimmings.
Putman generally designs large scale commercial projects, such as fashion stores, but she is also a champion of the Irish architect and furniture designer Eileen Grey.
Given carte blanche at 10 Aston Quay, she has designed an uber cool home using the very best of materials from aged Canadian oak flooring to fine Irish linen for the sheets. Even the cups, saucers and silver ashtrays are to her own design. Though completed over a year ago, the apartment has never been lived in: the kitchen cabinets, which were treated to 14 layers of paint to get a perfect, mother-of-pearl finish, are empty, the instructions are still inside the Sub-Zero fridge drawers.
Decorated in shades of white, brown and clerical grey (a nod perhaps to the generations of priests and nuns who shopped at McBirneys), the apartment has one long open plan livingroom at its centre, with a study to one side, and a bedroom suite that wraps around the corner of the building and includes a pristine and luxurious bathroom.
Leading off the livingroom is a recessed kitchen. This 'glasshouse' kitchen is cleverly hidden behind a Bauhaus-style, steel-framed, feature glass wall.
An art deco style metal staircase leads down to the floor below - which has a separate entrance. At this level there is a large guest bedroom, another fabulous bathroom, a hallway that could be used as a study, and a large utility room.
The level of finish is exceptionally high particuarly in the bathrooms with fittings by Czech & Speake. Heavy glass and metal doors throughout allow for a soft diffuse light while everywhere, panelling spring open at the least touch to reveal masses of storage.
The furniture is bespoke - 45 pieces in all - and many are limited editions that are no longer available, making them eminently collectible. The view of the river is superb. All it needs is a home for the Maserati.
Like the Look of Andrée Putman's furniture? See page 39 for details.
