Site Study
The site I selected is a derelict former home on North Circular Road, Dublin 7. It was built in 1847 as a rural villa just outside Dublin. Abandoned since the last 15 years, it sits beside a car dealership which has closed. I selected this as my site based on:
1) the risk to it that I perceived,
2) the rainwater adaptation strategies that could be utilised on the site, and
3) the potential and need for housing in the context.
Date built
Location
Original Use
Current Use
Materials & Construction
1847
Stone Villa; 297 North Circular Road, Dublin 7
Residential
Derelict; Protected Structure
Roof: slate on timber,
double pitched (extant)
Walls: Ashlar limestone and rendered brick gables
.jpg)
It is called Stone Villa because of its limestone front façade, which distinguishes it from the later Victorian red bricks.
The windows are boarded up, which has caused moisture problems on the inside.
The side elevations are of brick and have a Roman cement render on them, which has partially failed in places.
It has a double pile roof, with a central valley in the middle.
The Georgian proportions of the fenestration pattern of Stone Villa decrease as the the floors go up.
It is set back from the street and had a tennis field and orchards to the rear, the grounds of which are still attached to the building. It has survived remarkably intact because of the fact that it was occupied by 4 generations of the same family up until 2009. Reports say that even the interior is quite preserved, with intricate fireplaces and joinery details.
The site has returned to nature and has enabled new ecosystems for wildlife. It is full of wild flowers, bees and many wild animals. The conservation report has especially noted that the building and trees have become the habitat of 3 protected bat species. Moss and ivy has overtaken the façade.
%201-2500%20copy.png)
Possibly the earliest surviving building on this road. Stone Villa pre-dates the nearby St Peter's church by several decades.
Timeline
1847 - Originally built. Used as a country retreat just outside Dublin, therefore it was historically a rural villa.
1847 - 2009 - Occupied by 4 generations of the same family.
2010 - Sold.
2015 - Planning application for conversion of and 3-storey extension to Stone Villa to provide 6 apartments and and addition of 6 new houses to rear.
2016 - Request for additional information and changes; applicant returned with same. Permission granted subject to conditions.
2017 - Appeal based on factors such as overbearing extension to Stone Villas and visible loss of historic separation between it and surroundings. Council decided to grant permission with revised conditions like reducing height of extension by a storey.
2019 - Planning application to turn Stone Villa into 3 apartments and addition of 2 new 4-storey apartment blocks to rear.
2020 - Permission refused, one of the reasons being: ‘having an adverse impact on the setting of the Protected Structure’. Permission granted after appeal, but removing one of the 4-storey blocks.
2023 - Board’s Decision quashed by Order of the High Court. New case file made.
Community Objections
The proposed development in 2019 was ONLY for the site of Stone Villa. It was rejected after appeals and consisted of:
29 new build apartments plus 3 in Stone Villa itself, in 4 storey linear blocks about 4 metres away from site boundaries and Stone Villa itself.
The community objections are summarised below:
- Height too tall - surrounding buildings on St Peter’s Avenue and Cabra Road are 2 and 3 storey only.
- Overshadowing because the new development was proposed in the South and the West
- 4 storey buildings dwarf Stone Villa as well as surrounding buildings.
- Density too high. Proposed = 118.5 units per hectare. Dept of Urban Development and Building Heights 2018 recommended = 35-50 units per hectare.
- Privacy issue - Balconies on 4 storey structures overlook houses 4.1 metres from the boundary of 1 St Peter’s Avenue. Privacy of Cherrymount Park residents also affected.
- Studio apartments will result in a transient population. There is already a 400 person student development across the NCR in Highfield. Cluain Mhuire student accommodation with 700 beds, as well as others in Grangegorman, Smithfield, Dorset Street and in the shopping centres of Phibsborough and Prussia Street.
- Insufficient open green space. Dublin 7 is generally very institutional and does not have enough greenery, with MMUH and St Brendan’s Hospitals, thousands of dedicated student beds and HSE facilities.
- Mature trees being removed - biodiversity and habitat loss (3 protected bat species found - active in summer and autumn in both house and tree hollows).
- Not in character with ‘landscape of the area’.
- Not in line with promoting community development.