A gracious, family-orientated renovation and extension to 34 Havelock Square hasn’t at all diminished its original Victorian style. A confident house, full of light and open spaces, it’s been home and haven to many since it was built by a developer named Havelock in the 1860s.
When writer Kathleen McMahon and husband Mark Hurley moved in with twins Lucy and Clara 14 years ago she says “it was bare; the classic blank canvas. The lovely thing was that the original features were all there. We lived for five years with a small kitchen and bigger rear garden, then decided it would be a better idea to have the living space to the front and the square green as a garden.”
Easy to see why: with redbrick artisan houses on four sides of a large and lovely landscaped green, Havelock Square is quintessentially Victorian. Raise your eyes and life’s forward march comes into view – the Aviva Stadium is a dramatic backdrop, a 21st-century landmark that fits right in with life on the square.
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McMahon says, “the IRFU paid in large part for renovations to the square green. We’ve a really cordial relationship with them and the disruption during matches is minimal”. She’s even gone so far as to give the stadium a core role in a book in which, “each of the story’s characters has a different view of the stadium”.
The couple have made this a family house in every sense. First came the bookshelves, “lots of them, built by a friend”, then the extension. This meant taking down the back wall, bringing in light and adding a large kitchen/breakfast/diningroom (by architect Barry Gillen) with double glass doors to a patio garden used, weather permitting, for al fresco dining. “We entertain and cook a lot,” Kathleen says, “and the kids needed a place to do homework.”
Hurley’s family are uniquely talented craftspeople, mostly working in wood, so it was a given that his cousin John O’Brien would do the bespoke kitchen fittings and uncle David Woods did the extraordinarily fine bespoke cabinetry in the bedrooms. The paintings on the walls are family made and notable pieces of furniture were made by cousin Stephen O’Brien.
All of this has created a house with a latter day floor space of 150sq m (1,620sq ft), three bedrooms, kitchen/dining/breakfast room, sitting and family rooms and family bathroom. Number 34 cost €570,000 in 2002; agent Sherry FitzGerald is now asking €850,000.
Bookshelves
The large, bright kitchen/diningroom reaches into a patio with a brick shed, granite walls and rose bushes. Light pools from three Velux onto an earthy, Marron Claro marble kitchen floor and worktops are teak. The floors elsewhere on this floor are a dark, polished walnut, contrasting nicely with white walls. Ceilings are high and the front-facing sitting room has a functioning cast-iron fireplace. There are fold-back doors between this and the family room/study (where McMahon’s books are written) has a wall of bookshelves, presses, a reading nook and a second cast-iron fireplace. The hallway has lots of clever storage.
The large family bathroom, another new addition and on the first return, has feature window niches and separate bath and shower. There are polished pine floorboards, high ceilings and bespoke wardrobes in the bedrooms. Two have cast-iron fireplaces.
“We thought we’d never leave here,” McMahon admits, “but life changes and the girls are getting bigger and we need more space. We’re really attached to the area so we’re not going far and will definitely be back for the square’s great, Christmas street parties!”
Kathleen McMahon's book Long, Hot Summer (2014) is set in Havelock Square. She is currently finishing her third novel.
