APARTMENTS, BALLSBRIDGE, DUBLIN
36 Apartments at Serpentine Avenue, Ballsbridge, Dublin, Ireland : 1984-86
A short distance from the famous Landsdowne Road rugby ground, dealing with very conservative planning officials and a conservative commercially attuned independent developer, in a very up-market street with significant Georgian and later Victorian houses. A modernist aesthetic at this time was not an option, it was required to have roof form and window proportions in keeping with the surrounding buildings.
27 single bedroom apartments of 50 sq,m each, and 9 two bedroom apartments of 60 sq.m each, on a site area 0.25 hectare (2500 sq.m : 0.6 acre) at 148 bedrooms per hectare, with 1 car space per apartment on ground level. Built in accordance with the plans. but eaves, chimney and balcony details fell short of the intention - the balcony 'irons' were to be four square grid but were too expensive for the builder.
John Menage's perspective gives a better impression of the intention, than the built reality.
I do not have any good photos of the completed scheme.
