Oakley Road, Ranelagh

PKA's extensive development of this Oakley Road, Ranelagh, house and gardens included remodelling the Edwardian original - a protected structure - as well as the design of a large rear extension and a self-contained studio apartment in the back garden.

Prior to being purchased by our clients in 2008, the house had been sub-divided into bed-sits by its previous owners - with the loss of many original features.

The challenge for PKA was to strike a balance between restoring the house to its original state and creating a home to accommodate the family's contemporary lifestyle.

The extensive conservation programme comprised damp and rot treatments, structural repairs and services renewals to bring the house's fine-proportioned rooms back to their original splendour, as well as some reconfiguration of the layout to provide bathrooms and such-like.

The two-storey, cedar-clad extension accommodates a kitchen-cum-dining room at ground level, with a generous drawing room overhead. Its full-width, sliding glass wall enjoys a south-west orientation and views over the garden to a small cedar-clad studio that provides independent living for one or other of the clients' children and guests.

The house's circulation is enhanced by the insertion of a new oak staircase connecting the basement party room, the ground floor kitchen and the first floor drawing room; and providing the house with an alternative to the existing entrance stair-hall.

Oakley Road features as on of the Irish Times's Ten Houses We Fell For in 2019, which stated that "the Edwardian original was transformed into a contemporary home; the two-storey over-basement, and cedar-clad, rear extension sits seamlessly with the original".

Client: Private

Value: €1.500,000
Size: 630 sq.m.

Reference: On application
Design: 2005
Completion: 2008