Cork-born architect James Crowley of Foley & Crowley Architects, based in Donnybrook, took a small, terraced cottage in Broadstone, a 15-minute walk from O’Connell Street in Dublin city, and transformed it by opening up the layout and adding a dormer attic conversion to enhance its footprint to 58sq m (624sq ft).
Number 3 Myrtle Street is just around the corner from the lovely park at Blessington Street Basin, home to a Tudor gate lodge, a community garden and a duck pond in the heart of the city’s north side.
Cleverly, Crowley opted against extending the property to subsume the bright, south-facing outdoor terrace, as most of the neighbours have done, as it would have cut off the natural light which now flows abundantly into the open-plan kitchen/living/dining space to the rear. He knows its very cliche for an architect to say, he says, but he wanted the outdoor space to be an extension of the living space, and that he has achieved.
When Crowley bought the property – for €272,000 in 2017 according to the Property Price Register – the ground floor was laid out with a small livingroom to the front and a bedroom to the rear along with a galley kitchen. He knocked the dividing wall to allow for the open-plan kitchen and living space to the rear and added one separating wall to create an study/bedroom to the front.
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The study/bedroom features the original exposed-brick hearth and the owners installed a plush blue velvet couch here which doubles as a pull-out bed for visitors. As well as floating shelves, a durable desk unit has been built in to the corner of the room, a handy spot for remote workers.
Crowley also had the attic converted to create a first-floor dormer extension which has an en suite; this room is not deemed a bedroom due to its ceiling height, however, Crowley uses it as such and had a low, Japanese-style bed unit with side lockers built to create an illusion of space here. The room also offers plenty of storage space under the eaves, behind the bed and within a wall of built-in wardrobes.
The joinery throughout the house is bespoke and is used to make the most of tight spaces.
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Along with his business partners, Crowley owns a company called Modoco which designs and makes custom doors for Ikea kitchens; his own kitchen features bespoke white wooden units from the company with beech accents and countertops. A peninsula housing the sink divides the kitchen from the living space and also creates a perch to sit at with a high stool. The kitchen finish continues on to the understairs cabinets – with one slot ideal for a foldable bike – and the stairs themselves are a beautiful architectural feature with that beech finish.
In a surprise feature, a large kitchen door opens to reveal a snazzy drinks Cabinet with light-up shelving to house any tipple a guest might fancy. Beyond the kitchen is a well laid out utility area with washers and dryers hidden from view and a hanging area for drying clothes. A good-sized shower room sits beyond that.
The floor from the entrance and through the kitchen is a durable grey cement, while the living areas are fitted with solid-oak herringbone floors.
The symmetry of the natural stone creates a flow on the ground floor from the meticulously restored redbrick facade to the cut-stone hearth in the study/bedroom to the backdrop to the wood-burning stove in the livingroom and the wall framing the rear terrace, which Crowley had reconstructed from the bricks removed from the interior dividing wall.
With the owner and his young family moving on to a new build project near the coast in Co Wexford, this bright, modern, move-in-ready, B3-rated home is now on the market through Eoin O’Neill, seeking €435,000.
