The house standing at 32 Hampton Crescent, St Helen’s Wood, in Booterstown, bears little resemblance to how it looked when it was constructed by Sean Dunne’s Berland Homes near the grounds of the five-star Radisson hotel in the 1990s. “When we bought back then it was a 750sq ft [70sq m] bungalow with a small attic bedroom,” say the owners, who are now selling and moving to their native Cork. They first added a small extension and, in 2007, they gutted the entire house; all that remains of the original bungalow is the front wall.
“We had worked with [architect] Ken Edmondson on a place in Kinsale and found him great, and while that project was all about the views, the brief for St Helen’s was all about the orientation and light,” they say. Edmondson, who won a Millennium Award for Conservation from the United Kingdom Civic Trust in 2000 for his work on Malmaison hotel in Belfast, describes the house as reading “like a Tardis (the time machine in the Doctor Who television series) as a modest exterior gives way to surprising and playful spaces which open up inside”. And he’s not wrong: from the exterior, you’d be forgiven for thinking this is a modest bungalow. But nothing here is as it seems.
Inside the front hallway, the ceiling towers to a double-height atrium, under a large roof light that floods the space with natural light. More light pours into a drawingroom, livingroom and the kitchen-dining area, all of which open into each other and out on to a suntrap patio.
Besides the orientation and light, the sense of space is also evident as the property extends to 306sq m (3,294 sq ft) which is more than quadruple its original size. But it doesn’t feel overly large as the rooms are well proportioned.
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All rooms lie off the central atrium and, besides the three reception rooms that open to the garden, a family room and a bedroom (also opening to the garden) lie on the ground floor, with two further bedrooms and an office upstairs. Bedrooms are more akin to suites, with lovely oak parquet flooring in the upstairs rooms, and each has well-appointed ensuites while the principal bedroom also has a large walk-in wardrobe.
Fittings are high-end throughout, including Miele and Liebherr appliances in the kitchen – even the utility has marble countertops – and the remote-controlled dancing-flame fire is visible through the glass banisters on the floating staircase, enhancing the sense of space.
It has an impressive energy rating of A3, thanks to geothermal heating, a heat-recovery system and double glazing throughout.
One of the main reasons the family purchased here was its proximity to schools. “Our son went to St Andrew’s and he got up each morning at 8.20am and was always on time. My office was on St Stephen’s Green and if you time it right, you can be in there in 15 minutes,” says one of the owners. For those who don’t have the luxury of avoiding rush hour, there are good transport links including the Dart and access to the quality bus corridor, while Coláiste Íosagáin and Coláiste Eoin are next door and UCD’s Belfield campus is within walking distance, as is Blackrock village.
Though the gardens are not large, the house is within walking distance of the beach and there are lovely walks on the grounds of the development itself – including a path through the trees to the five-star hotel. For golf, Elm Park, Dún Laoghaire and Leopardstown are not far away.
In turnkey condition, number 32 Hampton Crescent is on the market through Hunters, seeking €1.38 million.
