It’s always interesting to see what an architect does when they design a home for themselves. There can be no talk of a difficult customer, no get-out clause claiming the client wasn’t bold enough to go with any visionary ideas.
When architect Ken Edmondson, whose packed portfolio ranges from restaurants to residential properties, designed his own family home in the late 1990s he gave himself as clear a slate as possible by buying an old house – a mid-terrace two-storey home in Sandymount – before levelling it and starting afresh. He then built what became a three-storey to the front, four-storey to the back, 243sq m (2,616sq ft), five-bedroom property. The Ber is C3.
It’s immediately obvious that 138 Tritonville Road, with its redbrick exterior and distinctive metal-roofed porch, is a much newer build than its Victorian neighbours and when he sold it on in 2003 he said “it seeks to transcend style; I’m not a great subscriber to style”. But that’s not to say that it is not immediately and distinctively stylish, with many features similar to those found in another project Edmondson worked on in the 1990s – the major renovation of the Clarence Hotel.
Inside the Sandymount house is a long list of bespoke thought-through design features, from terrazzo flooring and bespoke lighting to gently curving walls and Arts and Crafts-inspired window shutters. For an industrial look, Crittal screens and doors give access to the rear both from the first-floor kitchen and the study at garden level.
The interior layout sees a generously proportioned room on each level to the front: at hall level, an oval room currently used as a formal diningroom with space for a baby grand piano; on the first floor, a bright livingroom with a vaulted ceiling, and at the top of the house a main bedroom with walk-in wardrobe.
In the four storeys to the rear the layout is different, with mostly two rooms on each level: at garden level, down a few steps from that oval-shaped room, there’s a guest bedroom, bathroom and study (though the latter could be a fifth bedroom); above that, up a few terrazzo steps from the oval diningroom is the kitchen with a burnished metal wall concealing a utility room and a walk-in pantry; over that, on the third floor is a double bedroom with a large en suite and at the top of the house another bedroom which, Jack and Jill style, shares an en suite with the main bedroom.
These en suites were updated by the current owners. who remodelled them entirely and finished them with polished stone wall and floor tiles. In an another interesting feature, the staircase to the upper floors is accessed via a secret door in the livingroom.
The current owners revamped the long back garden commissioning Paul Doyle to create a new look that includes water features, a sandstone patio, perimeter screens of mature trees, colourful planting in deep beds and a lawn. There is rear pedestrian access and off-street parking to the front.
Having lived in this interesting, cleverly designed house for nearly 20 years, the owners are now downsizing, staying within what they find as an unbeatable location. Number 138 Tritonville Road is on the market through Lisney, asking €1,950,000.
