Property

A hippo, wolves and a tiger for neighbours: Living beside the zoo

Park ranger Paddy Crowe and his family rent a Regency style lodge in the Phoenix Park

Gate Lodge at the Phoenix Park. Photograph: Cyril Byrne/The Irish Times

Sylvia Thompson's face
Sylvia Thompson
Sat Sep 16 2017 - 07:00

There is something particularly idyllic about the setting of the lodges in many of our city parks. Built during the Georgian and Victorian times to house park keepers or gardeners in country house demenses that later became suburban parks, these houses remain an elegant part of our architectural heritage with their ornate fascia boards, mullioned windows, and charming brickwork.

Up to the beginning of this century, many of the houses in Dublin City Council parks were occupied by park-keepers but none of them remain inhabited, according to the Dublin City Council chief park superintendent, Leslie Moore. Similarly, many of the gate lodges and gardeners’ houses in Dublin’s suburban parks are no longer used as homes and have been demolished, used for storage or at best converted into cafes.

There are exceptions of course and a few of the original houses in Marlay Park in Rathfarnham remain lived in. And, of course, Laurelmere, the beautifully restored cottage a short walk from Marlay House is now the headquarters for the Royal Horticulture Society of Ireland.

Paddy Crowe with his wife Phyllis and daughter Alanah at their home, the Gate Lodge at Dublin Zoo. Photograph: Cyril Byrne/The Irish Times

Photograph: Cyril Byrne/The Irish Times

The chief parks superintendent of the Phoenix Park, St Stephen’s Green and the National War Memorial Gardens lives with her family in the pretty red-bricked Queen Anne style house in the south-west corner of St Stephen’s Green. Margaret Gormley and her family have been living in the house for over 25 years and have occasionally spoken publicly about the quirkiness of living in Dublin’s best loved park.

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But, lest we forget, Dublin’s other pride and joy is the Phoenix Park, reputedly the largest urban park in Europe and certainly the city park with some of the most attractive lodges. Take for example, the hexagonal Rose Cottage near the Ordnance Survey Offices which was built in the early 19th century and the Deer Keeper’s Lodge, which was designed by the English architect, Decimus Burton.

Thinking about all these wonderful architectural gems makes us curious about what it must be like to live in one and so with this in mind, we tracked down a willing family who inhabit one of the lodges in the Phoenix Park.

Surrounded by the zoo

Park ranger Paddy Crowe has been living in one of the park’s lodges with his wife, Phyllis and their daughter, Alanah for the last four years.

The Crowe family moved to the Phoenix Park from Carbury in Co Kildare. “We put our name on a list to rent a lodge in the park and we were one of the lucky ones to get to live here. It used to take me over an hour to get to work and now I’m right here so I’ve much more time in the evenings,” says Crowe.

As park ranger, Crowe patrols the Phoenix Park on foot, by bicycle and in a jeep. “You’re out in the air all the time, dealing with people,” he says. His duties also include opening and locking the gates on some of the entrances to Phoenix Park.

The extended gate lodge in which they live is at the former entrance to Áras an Uachtaráin. “Dev [president Éamon de Valera] loved this entrance, looking over the polo grounds,” explains Crowe. “There used to be a constable manning the gate on one side and a guard on the other side for his protection.”

Phyllis Crowe says she also loves living in the park. “There is a village atmosphere as regular walkers always say hello.” Alanah (13) says her school friends didn’t believe her at first when she said she lived next door to the zoo. “I love seeing all the animals – the deer, foxes, badger and squirrels.”

‘It’s like being the countryside’

The small Regency style single storey lodge was extended to make it habitable while the lodge on the other side of the gate is now used for storage. In the 1990s, land from the grounds of Áras an Uachtaráin was given over to the zoo for the African plains so the Crowe’s house and garden is now surrounded by it.

“We can hear the hippo blowing out water at night time and there is a pack of wolves near us that our Siberian husky, Apollo howls at. Then, one of the tigers roars out and the wolves and the dogs all shut up,” explains Crowe.

In many ways, the great expanse of greenery in the city centre has a rural feel to it. “There is a city atmosphere during the day with cars parked up by families going to the zoo. But, then it’s like being the countryside at night time with joggers, walkers and deer coming over to feed,” says Crowe.

Phyllis Crowe says that she loves the winter mornings best of all. “You can see the Wellington monument when all the leaves are off the trees in winter time and we can time ourselves by the howling of the wolves. I feel safe too with all the security lights for the zoo and Áras an Uachtaráin.”