Smart urban design shows real mews value

Last year saw saw record prices achieved for some mews properties in the capital, with Paddy McKillen and Matt Ryan’s Oakmount development at Morehampton Lane achieving more than €2 million for each of four units. While not typical mews – standing at 247sq m – they still had limited rear outdoor space and were essentially constructed in infill sites of larger period houses to the front.

More and more of these lavish contemporary mews properties are cropping up in city centre areas, but who are the buyers? According to Harriet Grant of agent Savills, “In contrast to the traditional mews houses which were converted stables or cottages, these are built for modern living and energy efficiency. They have a trendy image and appeal to a broad market such as professionals seeking a contemporary home and those looking for a pied-à-terre which is discreet and centrally located.”

Tax planning

The buyer profile varies, according to agent Peter Kenny of Knight Frank, and ranges from single, well-to-do expats planning a return to Ireland, sons and daughters of wealthy parents who are engaging in tax planning for future inheritance; retiring couples selling out of large redbricks in Dublin 4 or 6, and wealthy young couples. "Needless to say these purchases are made without recourse to bank lending."

It's rare to find good design and comfortable living fitting together as well as they do at 60 Heytesbury Lane, a very stylish mews behind cut-limestone walls in a quiet laneway between Wellington and Waterloo roads.

There’s an easy flow of movement between spaces, with an emphasis on areas in which to relax, on bedrooms that are coolly uncluttered and on an open kitchen/dining/living area exposed to the soothing calm of a Zen-like Japanese garden.

There is pure style in the use of black polished marble worktops; in high, many-windowed ceilings; in the pale oak flooring throughout; the light pouring in from every angle and, strikingly, in a design layout that allows for a flexibility of living choices. Colours throughout are shades of grey, offset by white.

A front entrance courtyard has discreet and plentiful storage; the Japanese garden is a living presence on the ground floor; and a veranda off the first-floor main bedroom feels as if it’s perched in the treetops of what is an abundantly leafy corner of Ballsbridge. Agent Knight Frank is seeking €1.95 million for what, at 197sq m (2,121sq ft) over two floors with soaring ceilings, is a decent-sized mews.

Rebuilt

The vendor paid €600,000 for the house, original to the site in 2004 and rebuilt, to a design by architect Denis Anderson, as a smaller version of today's mews. The family "lived in it a while, played around with space and eventually extended the ground floor area".

This created the great sweep from the entrance hallway to the "labour of love" that is the Japanese garden. Bernard Hickey and Dale Skinner collaborated on a design that features Japanese black stone and polished concrete, bamboo, maple, jasmine and a couple of lily ponds.

A ground floor bedroom opens, delightfully, to a small inner courtyard. The bathroom on this floor has black, textured walls made by stuccodore Paul Marlowe and free-standing bath. A large Aga fills a wall in a relaxation corner and the kitchen/dining/living area, where a wood-burning stove fronts a Japanese-wallpapered wall, leads to a wall of glass which slides open into the Japanese garden.

The first-floor drawingroom has a horizontal, functioning fireplace and opens to a veranda shaded by a tall, silver birch. The main, ensuite bedroom has a wall of wardrobes and cleverly concealed storage.