mews

Arthur Gibney

I bought this mews at Leeson Place in 1963. The purchase provided the original stables measuring 7x7 metres, a courtyard facing onto the mews lane and a garden 35 metres long between the mews and the rear of the tall Georgian Houses on Lower Leeson Street.

At this period, Leeson Place had a mixed zoning and the lane was highly industrialised. Several of the properties serviced the motor trade ; a garage and filling station occupied the corner premises at the entry to the lane. Living near the urban centre and particularly in a mews was unusual at the time. Initially I was tempted to demolish the building and to construct an entirely new structure but I persevered in my original intention to convert the stables to domestic use.

My requirements at the time were modest enough, as I had no intention of keeping the premises as my permanent home. The ground floor was converted into a living/dining area with windows to both the courtyard and the garden. A small spiral stairs accessed the first floor which provided two bedrooms and bathrooms. A utility room was accommodated in a small annex in the courtyard.

By 1967 the spatial constraints of the combined living/dining became oppressive and I decided to build a new living room as a single storey addition to the garden side of the mews. I was influenced by Scandinavian buildings at this time. The glazed, timber trabeated structure of the room owes a considerable debt to the architecture of Jorgen Bo and Wilhelm Wohlert's Louisiana Museum. This improved the social amenities of the dwelling and provided an interesting sequence of vistas, in enfilade from the courtyard, through the mews and into the garden.

In 1973 an adjoining owner offered me a part of his site on my eastern boundary. This was not a building but a strip of ground measuring 25x3.6 metres. It was a narrow plot but it afforded opportunities to increase the living potential of my existing habitat. This time I was not inhibited by existing ceilings and I was keen to exploit vistas to the south from the first floor level overlooking the hospital gardens.The extension provided a large kitchen, separate dining room and increased bedroom accommodation. The plan was organised around the fulcrum of a new spiral stairs and the ground floor rooms faced into small courtyards. The entirety of the ground floor was now oriented into a courtyard system which ideally suited mews living. Long Georgian gardens are too overlooked for social ease but they are ideal for visual contemplation in traditional patterns used in Japanese temples.

The mews reflects the cultural ideas of the 1960s/1970s era. Leeson Place has changed considerable since, with increased residential use but the lawns of the hospital are now a car park. I still live there because of its proximity to the urban scene and the facility for pedestrian movement to work, to restaurants and to the Dublin boulevards.

Arthur Gibney is an architect and former President of the RIAI and the Royal Hibernian Academy