Back in the boom of 2007, architect David Leech bought the corner site at the edge of Hollybrook Grove, a small estate just off the main drag in Clontarf village, at the Fairview end. It’s hidden away behind the Garda station and is just a short walk to the Dart station at the Malahide Road junction.
Then the crash happened and he and his wife moved to London, where he set up a very successful practice. They returned to Ireland about five years ago and spent about a year trying to secure planning permission for their rather unusual house, which has won numerous awards, including the International World Architecture house of the year in 2018, the year when they finally they moved in.
The house flows in an anticlockwise fashion and to the kitchen to the right
The exterior is in keeping with an estate full of pebble-dash-fronted houses, but everything about this property is unique and custom-built to his exacting design by contractor Roche Boland.
The services are all stored within a central cross, so when you walk through the front door with its painted ovoid detail into the hall, a large storage cupboard, big enough to take sports equipment, skateboards and any number of schoolbags, is hidden behind a floor-to-ceiling Iroko sliding door. Bookshelves filled with books greet you. These are backed by ribbed glass and are part of all the built-in joinery, including the kitchen, fashioned by Brendan Kavanagh.
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The house flows in an anticlockwise fashion and to the kitchen to the right.
South-facing, its two exterior walls feature gorgeous custom-timbered glazing by Fitzpatrick & Henry, that folds back to open two sides of the room to the most beguiling garden. Designed by Maria Canavan, it is secreted behind a very suburban privet hedge. Leech describes it as “country-cottage style” and it features blackberry, apple, wild strawberries that the kids can snack on while waiting for their meal. It looks utterly wild but he assures me that it took a lot planning to make it look this undone.
The eat-in kitchen has an island dividing its cooking and dining components. Just 1.2 metres deep, it has a sink at its end with bins below and below-counter storage presses on the dining side for crockery, glassware and serveware.
It is a very considered space all set out in a broken plan and despite the extensive glazing it is utterly private
The living room is a step down. Here the aspect is north and east, so the garden is planted with shade-loving plants including ivy to climb the gable wall of the house next door and large ferns that are backlit by exterior lighting, often the only source of light in the room. It’s is an incredibly restful and private space.
All told, it is a very considered space all set out in a broken plan and despite the extensive glazing it is utterly private. “Through a chink too wide there comes in no wonder,” he says, quoting the second line from Patrick Kavanagh’s Advent.
Underfloor heating warms the concrete floors, which have Italian marble inset to give a checkerboard effect, while in the living room there is texture underfoot in the form of a wool boucle carpet by Alternative Floors.
The ceilings are tented, most notably in the primary bedroom where there are sea views in winter
Upstairs there is a tiny postage-stamp-sized landing with four doors leading off it. These are all fronted with Iroko while their interior sides are clad in Valchromat, a form of wood-fibre panelling that is impregnated with organic dyes so that the entire block is the same shade. Chemically bonded using resins, it is hardwearing and also covers the floors and window surrounds. It’s a material that can be sanded down like wood while still retaining its colour.
There are three bedrooms, two doubles and a single, all with oversize windows washing them in light. The ceilings are tented, most notably in the primary bedroom where there are sea views in winter and the bed is discreetly set back from the glazing and where the bed back divides the room to create a neat dressing room with wardrobes.
The property, which extends to 129sq m (1,388sq ft), has a BER of B and is seeking €850,000 through agents Sherry FitzGerald.
