800 Howth Road

[garethb]

Hi All,

I'm starting work on the refurbishment & extension of this house on the Howth Road, and am looking for any information I can on who may have designed it, etc. It's on a section of the Howth Road (facing onto the seafront) where there are at least 4 similar houses within a stretch of about 200 yards, and I think is an interesting run for that reason. The house has been altered substantially since it's original construction, and part of the project will involve removing all the later additions / embellishments, etc...

The house was built in 1938 for a Mr. Michael V Fay. The IAA don't have anything on, and Docomomo don't know it but think it may have been designed by JV Downes or someone from his studio. It's not mentioned in "Free State Architecture" or "Ireland & the New Architecture". Does anyone have any suggestions / ideas about who may have designed it, or where this info might be found?

I've tried to post a link to a photo of it below (as it currently exists), but not sure if this link works - hopefully it will.

Any help / thoughts, etc, would be greatly appreciated.

http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=503962086322115&set=a.261226110595715.79357.153318048053189&type=1&theater

[Paul Clerkin]

Awhhhh the castellations are fantastic - Corb would have done that if he'd thought of it.

[arachne]

yes, there are quite a few flat-roofed houses along there, some quite eccentric (e.g. 'the White house'. There's at least one other one with 'battlements'.

[garethb]

Hi Arachne, which one's the White House? There is another one with Battlements alright, un-surprisingly called "Castle House". There's another "castle" on the Howth Road at the back entrance to Mount Temple School, it seems to have been a fad in the 70's / 80's? I've done drawings of 800 as it is now, and as it probably was originally, and the difference is pretty stark!

[arachne]

Apologies for terrible picture - this is much closer to Clontarf than 800: http://s1128.beta.photobucket.com/user/ ... sort=3&o=8
It's very distinctive, with little elephant sculptures on the balcony, and a mural of the house itself

[garethb]

Hi Arachne, ah yes, I know that house, it's one of 6 designed by Robinson Keeffe in 1932 (same architects who designed the Technical Institute in Marino - 1936 - this is now Marino College, and had an awful 3rd floor mansard dropped on it from a height in the 70's or thereabouts). The houses in Clontarf are really nice, the White House is the only one that still has the original windows & original balcony un-enclosed. I always wondered about the elephants, and the mural - I've photographed it in the past from across the road, but can't make out if the mural isn't of another building? - It looks different to the White House.