In 1985 builder Jim Ruane from Co Mayo purchased a site from a client next door to construct his family home. He engaged newly graduated architects Paul Curran and Derek Heavey to design a house "that broke away from traditional builds of the time".
“We used curved walls to eliminate any shadows and to maximise sunlight,” explains Ruane, “and the entire house was built around a mountain ash of which only the stump remains today.”
The Ruanes are downsizing and have placed their 228sq m (2,450sq ft) home on the market through estate agent DNG with an asking price of €895,000.
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The house is built on the grounds of the old fruit gardens of the period homes on Lower Churchtown Road, and part of the old "lovers' lane" that led from the golf club to Churchtown still runs through the site, which is totally private with a towering willow tree to greet you at the gate. A Clematis armandii drapes over a large pergola to the front of the property, hiding a path to a sun terrace which houses a tropical garden complete with chilli peppers.
The front hall, though a little dark, has lovely herringbone parquet which meanders, due to the curvature of the interior walls, to a new kitchen overlooking the rear garden.
Off the bright kitchen with travertine floors and Silestone countertops are a breakfast room and a sunroom which leads to the front sun terrace.
Adjacent sits the formal dining room-cum-living room, warmed by a fine marble fireplace; the curved walls at both ends are echoed in a small ceiling dome.
A small television room, which could have a plethora of other uses, has access to the rear garden. The garden is what will really attract buyers: it is a small haven in Churchtown suburbia which “evolved over time”, according to Ruane.
Ruane used paving-stones reclaimed from a Monkstown cottage which are over 200 years old, interspersed with new wooden decking and the same Butterley bricks which partially clad the house.
In the centre of the garden is a raised sunroom which is bathed in light and surrounded by mature shrubs including some deep pink Peony roses, Crinodendron, Mahonia and a multitude of blackcurrant bushes.
Ruane has had to net the koi pond, as a cheeky grey heron is a regular visitor and has a taste for its inhabitants.
The house has four bedrooms and a home office, and would suit a family with a love of gardening in this residential location in Dublin 14.
