The circular structure of a story that culminates in a character’s return home is a neat and recurring one, depicted in the likes of Homer’s The Odyssey, Joyce’s Ulysses and, of course, Spielberg’s ET.
And that is how the owner of 54 Fontenoy Street in Phibsborough, a writer and director of drama, documentary and theatre, describes his move back to Charleville, Co Cork, a return that has prompted him to place his Victorian villa on the market.
Fontenoy Street was itself home to James Joyce for a time, who stayed at number 44 while, having been inspired in Trieste, he set about opening Ireland’s first cinema, the Volta on Mary Street.
The address is recorded in Joyce’s blush-inducing letters to Nora Barnacle, although their explicit nature does not detract from the depth of the love portrayed within them, the homeowner at number 54 notes.
READ MORE
Another Dubliner born on the street is believed to have been immortalised in the famous photograph of 1950, The Kiss by the Hôtel de Ville, by Robert Doisneau. He was not one of the young lovers at its centre, though, he was walking by in the background, case in hand, sporting a beret, looking every inch the modern Parisian. The owner of number 54 has an old newspaper cutting of an article from The Irish Times written by Helen Gygax in which she claims the man to be her uncle from Fontenoy Street, Jack Costello. As Frank McNally noted in this paper in 2014, the Doisneau family counter-claimed that the man was a Canadian lawyer, but the Costellos then pointed to the báinín jumper, just visible under the beret-wearer’s overcoat – so, the debate continues.
The owner of 54 Fontenoy Street bought his home in the 1990s and renovated it thoroughly in 2015, adding a well-designed rear extension that positions a light-filled dining space alongside an outdoor courtyard. Now extending to 96sq m (1,033sq ft) with a C3 Ber, 54 Fontenoy Street is on the market with Sherry FitzGerald, seeking €675,000.
A galley kitchen had originally been on the left at the rear of the property, but the owner was advised by an architect to knock that completely and to extend in line with the front hallway, creating a flow from the font door through to the extension. It was originally the plan to put the kitchen to the rear, but a friend pointed out that you should put a living space – ie the dining area – in the spot that gets most light as you spend most of you time there, rather than the kitchen where you do your cooking and move on.
The result is a beautiful place to dine, chat or tap away on your laptop and open the sliding doors to the spacious courtyard. It is flooded with light from rooflights overhead that also accommodate glimpses of a redbrick church tower.
The livingroom sits to the front of the house with high ceilings that add a sense of space and grandeur. A period fireplace forms a focal point, adorned by green tiles emblazoned with daisies.
Down the hallway, across from where the understairs space is occupied by a storage shelf, is a double bedroom with a sash window overlooking the courtyard. The room is spacious with built-in wardrobes. There is outdoor storage just beyond, plumbed for a WC, so it would be possible to knock through to create an en suite.
Upstairs, the bathroom sits at the top of the stairs and the main bedroom sits off that, with built-in wardrobes and a window looking out to the rear.
The house is walking distance from Phibsborough’s cafes, shops, pubs and restaurants and boasts its sense of community on a spring morning with children walking, cycling and scooting to school, and residents selling charity pins on the corners. It’s about a 15-minute walk to Stoneybatter and the Lighthouse cinema (where the owner recommends the NT Live showings from London’s National Theatre), and the Broadstone green line Luas stop is just five minutes away on foot.
