Claiming art deco for a new era

A house in Foxrock was designed to blend in with its 1930s neighbours yet has all the features of a modern home

IT TOOK over a year to build Suantraí on Knocksinna Road, Foxrock, Dublin 18 and the result is a dazzling white, art deco-style house with a room for every eventuality and wiring for pretty much every lifestyle requirement – down to a power point in the front garden for electric car charging.

Daphne L Kaye is quoting €2.75 million for the 463sq m (5,000sq ft) house which was built in the garden of the 1937-built art deco house next door and blends in well with other listed detached houses on the cul-de-sac, including the Indian embassy residence which is being refurbished.

Sites on Knocksinna were sold off in the 1930s and each buyer had their house designed and built individually. Quite a few chose to build in the cutting-edge art deco style of the time and while Suantraí is in keeping, it is a modern building with an A3 energy rating. The builder, who originally intended to move in himself but has changed his plans, says because it’s “future-proofed” and has solar heating, boiler control technology and heat recovery systems in the bathrooms, it won’t have the insulation or condensation problems often associated with the real deal.

Instead of the traditional small, slit-like windows, Suantraí (it means lullaby) has an abundance of large windows in most rooms and the bonus of an enormous basement with sunken courtyard areas. The builder has really done his best to inject some cubist character into the house, and has gone to great trouble choosing the right sinks, door handles, bathroom mirrors and even parquet-style decking. The look is uncompromising throughout in terms of its clean lines, and unfussy neutral decor.

On the ground floor, there are a number of understated reception rooms with wide-plank oak floors and wiring for everything from multi-room audio visual to home cinema and mood lighting. There’s also a central vacuum, and underfloor heating. There’s a sittingroom with a built-in, remote-control pebble gas fire and a diningroom with French doors out to the garden .

The room you can imagine becoming the hub is a large, open-plan kitchen and family room. The kitchen is high gloss vanilla Miele, with, again, every whim catered for. There are no less than two fridges and two freezers, a built-in coffee maker with a cup warmer, a counter with pop-up sockets, illuminated worktops and a range of integrated appliances. There’s also a utility room with storage and fitted high gloss units and a washing machine and dryer. The family room is a substantial space with a raised-efficiency (of course, what else?), remote-controlled pebble gas fire.

There’s also a study and an exquisite guest toilet with a huge square sink, a heated towel rail and polished granite floor. In the passageway to the toilet there are cloak cupboards hidden behind streamlined gloss doors.

In the spirit of leaving nothing to chance, there’s a side entrance to the house that leads straight down to the 165sq m (1,776sq ft) basement, which holds several surprises. The first is a massive room that could be used as a home cinema or a games room that would fit enough snooker tables to stage a tournament. There’s a sunken courtyard with parquet-style teak decking on either side of the room which keeps the room fairly bright.

A second, very large room with two courtyard areas off it could be a fifth bedroom, the nanny’s living quarters or a gym, because there’s an adjacent bathroom and steam room .

There’s also a wine vault at this level, a specially insulated room that could alternatively be used as an office. Upstairs, there are four double bedrooms, some with views of Foxrock Golf Club which is next door but one. As you’d expect of a house that is trying to tick all the boxes, all the rooms have fitted wardrobes and are en suite, with top-notch bathrooms and power showers. The main bedroom has a wall of wardrobes with specially fitted shoe racks and a walk-in wardrobe.

The only disappointment for such a large house is the modest size of the south-facing rear garden. That said, it’s a lovely private space which has been very well landscaped with a terracotta patio, specimen bamboo trees, shrubs and exotic plants and auto-sensor lighting.

The front garden is mostly gravelled with space for four to six cars.