Award-winning home on Priory Avenue in Blackrock

Priory Avenue is a mature sleepy road that runs parallel to the Stillorgan dual carriageway, which makes it convenient to the surrounding areas of Blackrock, Mount Merrion and Stillorgan, in addition to many schools and University College Dublin in Belfield.

Set well back behind mature planting, Number 17 was built in the 1940s by Sisk Construction for one of its company directors. Today it is home to Philip and Nicola Flynn who purchased the house in 1998 after returning to Ireland from the United States where Philip worked in the tech industry.

“We were immediately struck by the hexagonal shape of the hall and though it needed work [the property had no central heating upstairs], we saw the potential due its capaciousness,” recalls Philip Flynn.

The son of a builder who “spent much of the early days on building sites” Philip wasn’t in the least deterred by the prospect of renovation – despite having three children in tow.

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The family engaged John Mitchell, then of Mitchell Duffy Architects: “I really enjoyed working with John and at the time he had a young architect, Dave Egan [today of Node Architects] in the firm, who dressed in a grey coat and Doc Martens – he came up with some really great ideas,” recalls Philip. Indeed those ideas paid off as the design for number 17 won two architectural accolades: one from the Royal Institute of Architects in Ireland (RIAI) and the second from the Architectural Association of Ireland (AAI). The RIAI applauded the overall transformation as “sublime” and described as “superb” the “control and use of natural light” and “the attention to detail, selection of material, and division of space”. Also highlighted was how “the extension of garden into living area through thoughtful selection of materials and landscape design further enhances the living space”.

To boot, RTÉ arrived with cameras to interview Nicola about the property for a slot on About the House with regards to its transformation and striking interiors.

From its front facade it looks like a normal run-of-the-mill house and fits in well with its neighbours. But as soon as the front door opens the sense of space and light become apparent. Inside, 9ft-high ceilings bounce the light that flows in from the southwest-facing rear garden over the three floors, which occupies 215sq m (2,400sq ft) of space.

The steep angle of the roof allowed for two new bedrooms on the top floor, and one of the four bedrooms on the first floor was reclaimed for use as a four-person sauna – which Philip describes as having been his dream.

When the family moved back from the United States: “We had all this fairly new furniture which was rather outsized so the design of the extension raised the ceiling heights to 10ft” so the furniture wouldn’t crowd the room.

Small touches besides the sauna and a Jacuzzi bath is the Indian sandstone path that begins in the hallway and runs right through the living area, kitchen and out the glazed back door to frame an outdoor patio dining space.

A yellow wall delineates the kitchen, living and outdoor space adding interest against the floor-to-ceiling windows in the open-plan livingroom.

A formal livingroom to the front of the house is lined with shelves and hosts the family’s musical instruments. While Philip, now retired, ran technology companies such as Visio [which was subsequently purchased by Microsoft], his passion for music saw him host the first outdoor tented music festival in Ireland. Held in 1977, it ran in his native Sligo, in the village of Ballysadare, and he currently serves on the board of the northwest’s premier music festival, Sligo Live.

The gardens, which Nicola has tended over the past 20 odd years, have a sheltered patio, a lovely water feature with raised beds providing year-round colour.

This most interesting property with a Ber rating of C3 is now on the market through Lisney Sotheby’s International Realty seeking €1.295 million.