Locals know this award-winning home as the house with the bed in the window. Bernice Harrison reports
The sheer volume of houses in Dublin 6 has made sellers - and estate agents - nervous. But the owner of 10 Richmond Place feels rightly that his house is a very different proposition to the typical Victorian redbrick on offer in the area.
It's an ultra modern, two-bedroom house off Mountpleasant Avenue. Passersby will know it well as the house with the bed in the window.
Only completed around 18 months ago, it's already picked up a trio of architectural awards for its designers Boyd Cody, from the Architectural Association of Ireland (AAI), the Royal Institute of the Architects of Ireland (RIAI) and Opus and it's for auction by Sherry FitzGerald on November 1st with an AMV of €1.1 million.
Once you step inside the front door, the first impression is that this is an uncompromisingly minimalist house.
The materials on show are drawn from a shortlist - mostly the luxury of solid oak for doors, stairs and wall cladding; expansive glass windows and the industrial feel of polished concrete.
It appears a masculine space - and the owner was a single man when he embarked on the project. He's knowledgeable about contemporary design and took a close interest in every aspect of the house's evolution.
Time has moved on, however, and marriage and a newborn have been added to the equation so the house is now no longer really suitable.
The living area is down a couple of steps off the hall and it is a large, angular room framed by a glass wall on one side and a large picture window on the other. Despite the size of the windows, it's a private space because the high-ceilinged room is just below street level.
The signature feature here is the polished concrete floor - made cosy by underfloor heating - which also rises around a metre up the wall, so its grey finish is very much a design statement.
There's a slight curve on the other wall and the owners enjoy the play of light on its surface so much that they haven't wanted to hang art there. An open fire - discreetly integrated - adds a homely touch.
The smart, custom-built oak galley kitchen is off the hall and it is laid out so that the hob-and-steel worktop area overlooks the livingroom below. Perfect, say the owners, for sociable cooking.
There is a door off the kitchen out to a narrow patio area on the opposite side of the house. Also downstairs is an impressive and large shower room - there's another full bathroom upstairs - both ultra-contemporary in terms of finish and fittings.
Upstairs there are two good-sized double bedrooms, one of which has probably the house's most talked-about feature, a large floor-to-ceiling window giving people coming up Mount Pleasant Avenue a bird's eye view of the bed.
Up to now it's been used as a guest bedroom and the owners, who get quite a deal of amusement out of people's reaction to what seems like such a public bedroom, are quick to say that the windowhas a large blind.
Outside there are only two small patio areas, one to the front, the other along the glass wall in the livingroom. This is a grown-up sort of house, not particularly child friendly - but it would have strong appeal for anyone with an interest in contemporary design.
For a virtual tour of this property, click on www.nicemove.ie
