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No7 Cormac Terrace, Terenure, Dublin 6W
Ask for a price: €435,000
Agent: Moovingo (01) 5169995
By the 1920s Terenure had become Dublin’s ‘tramway town’. There were three large tram depots in situ and also large slices of cottages for the tram workers, but if you were one of those tram workers, Terenure was also a “little town” because the infamous William Martin Murphy, owner of the Dublin United Tramways Company (DUTC), was notoriously tight on money.
Not only did he pay his tram workers well below average (which ultimately led to the 1913 lockout), he housed his crews in houses much smaller than other Dublin transport workers did. could expect it.
Terenure’s main tram depot was located opposite St. Joseph’s Church. It is now an Aldi and its two stone arches (for incoming and outgoing trams) can still be seen today. The second DUTC repository was located at the current Terenure Library site. Finally, Terenure’s steam tram depot at Blessington was right next door. The latter operated coal-powered locomotives running on the road, which dragged two short, stubby wagons in their wake.
William Martin Murphy (he also started this newspaper in 1905) built trams not only in Dublin, Cork and Belfast, but also in London, Hastings, Bournemouth, Poole, Paisley and Buenos Aires. The first trams carried distinctive symbols. No15 (which has since become the bus route) was known as the ‘Red Triangle’ and No16 the ‘Green Cross’. At that time, most Dubliners could neither read, nor write, nor “do their calculations”.
Cormac Terrace Cottages, Terenure, were built in the 1920s for workers on these roads. While the workmen’s cottages widely built by the Dublin Artisans Dwelling Company (DADC) at this time tended to be around 400 square feet inside, Murphy’s workmen’s cottages were less than 300 square feet.
Today, No7 Cormac Terrace is for sale. Its current owner acquired it five years ago without doing anything for 60 years. Incredibly, although originally nearly 300 square feet, it has always been a two bedroom home. Later, No7 added two lean-to extensions to provide bathroom and kitchen spaces, but these also served to confuse the layout of modern living.
So, just after appointing an architect (who got permission to demolish the two old extensions to build a new one), the owner of No7 brought in tiny house consultant Wesley O’Brien.
Known in the real estate industry as “The Space Man”, O’Brien is a consultant for buyers of small homes, offering expertise in maximizing limited spaces. His work has often featured in these pages.
It does this by reconfiguring layouts, repurposing rooms and spaces, providing inventive storage solutions and appliance housing, as well as optimizing the selection of furniture and furnishings to work better with little ones. spaces.
With property prices rebounding to Tiger-era levels, more and more young couples and singles are confined to small country homes. O’Brien found himself in demand, helping to turn them into plausible modern family homes.
“While architects are great at figuring out how to get permission for the newest space, usually by looking at what neighbors have managed, they’re often not very good at organizing that space internally so it can be used. effectively,” says O’Brien.
While the new extension added to the master bedroom also allowed for a bright, open-plan living, dining and kitchen space, improvements needed to be made to the plans.
His first recommendation was to create a small entry hall to expand the open-plan living space. Then the entrance bedroom door had to be moved right next to the front door, where it restricted access and also spoiled the usability of the bedroom, and placed it lower on the wall so that she enters the center of the room.
“This has allowed us to fit plenty of built-in storage into the cupboards. We have also lowered the ceiling here to create a hidden space above the head to house the boiler and water tank, but also to provide a additional storage space accessible in Stira.
A shallow wall void is now preceded by wardrobe doors. These contain the fuse board above and another has a Dyson cabinet with the vertical rack flush inside.
O’Brien recommended underfloor heating, which did away with wall-mounted radiators, greatly increasing furniture and layout options.
“With no radiators, in both bedrooms the beds are pushed up against the windows and a wall. In Ireland people say you should never do this, but that’s because the windows used to be prone drafts and leaks.Modern windows mean there is no need to worry about this anymore.
He is particularly proud of the kitchen. “There is a full size washer/dryer, oven, fridge freezer, microwave and compact dishwasher and you wouldn’t know it.”
Carrick Kitchens bespoke joiners were brought in to undertake more irregular but ingenious arrangements. The washing machine is concealed just below the hob and the oven is mounted in a stack of flush cupboards opposite with the microwave above. Each device is considered to create more space.
The removal of the chimney added more space and the removal of a planned wood-burning stove (the house is now insulated to standard B) allowed a chimney void to house a stack of baskets.
“In reality, they are children’s toys and clothes storage,” explains O’Brien. A two-seater mini sofa makes it feel like you have more space, and pairing it with a small armchair (rather than having a three-seater) makes the living space more flexible.
Next comes the practice. “The floor looks like wood, but it’s wood-effect ceramic tiles. You need tiles for a kitchen, but these are warmer.
Now 370 square feet, No7 has the living space of a much larger home. With the family gone, it is now up for sale with its own parking space through Moovingo, fetching €435,000.
Thanks to William Martin Murphy, all 15 routes (now buses) are at your doorstep.
