As part of his new series Dermot Bannon's Incredible Homes, which returns to our screens this Sunday, Dermot Bannon got to peek into some of the most extravagant and impressive homes in London, Sweden, and Australia.
Ahead of tonight's finale, we caught up with the country's favourite architect to discuss the areas of design that Irish people excel in, and where we need a little help.
"We have a good sense of what we want. We're getting better at getting rid of the frivolous stuff. It's been a long time since I've done a good dining room, unless it's for a restaurateur or someone who likes to entertain at home.
"What we're really bad at is, we're still fixated with how a house looks. People will still come to me with an image of the front of a house and say, 'I'd like it to look like that' and I'm thinking, 'that's not going to fit with the site, that's not going to fit with the light conditions, it's not even going to fit with how you want the house to be laid out.
He continued: "We're very fixated on how something looks rather than how it works."
On tonight's episode...
The first house Dermot visits is probably one of the most unusual properties he has ever, and will ever visit. Walmer Yard sits on a leafy street in London’s Holland Park, bookended by a restored 19th-century kiln – a reminder of the area’s history of clay pits – and prosaic glass and steel offices where the sitcom Absolutely Fabulous was filmed.
We think it would be well up to Edina and Patsy's standards as it took ten years to make and cost a cool £22 million.
Each of the houses sits around an intimate timber lined courtyard, which is perceived as an interior room and raised from the street, above a basement parking level.
After the leafy area of Holland Park, Dermot whizzes into the hustle and bustle of Mayfair, to visit Culross House. A property that saw the transformation of the site of the Coach House of the Earls of Essex, into a new 8,051 sq. Ft (747.99 sqn.) five-bedroom ambassadorial house, complete with cinema/club room, swimming pool, spa complex and private rear garden.
Next up is Kilburn where Dermot attempts to find the hidden home/workspace of Architect Duncan McCleod. Situated on Kilburn Lane, this house is carved from a West London Victoria terraced house. The former Victorian flat over shop has been transformed and has beautiful featuresincluding an extraordinary staircase that's covered in astro-turf and slides across the hallway on runners to provide a concealed motorbike storage space.
An hour outside London Town, Dermot makes his way on a boat to Henley on Thames. Dick and Judith Fletcher are the owners of the beautiful and inspiring 'Pheasants'. The couple used to run a children’s software business which they sold for a ‘substantial’ amount in 2003.
After feeling disappointed by local architects’ designs for a new home, they organised a design competition through RIBA in 2004, which attracted 67 entries from around the world.
After its completion ‘Pheasants’ won the RIBA Regional Award 2018 and was nominated for RIBA 2018 Home of the Year.
For the final part of this programme, Dermot heads to Cornwall, where many Londoners have their summer homes. He stays in a house that oozes contemporary minimalist design, The Hide.
Designed by Jess Clark, the minimalist aesthetic of The Hide doesn’t compromise on comfort, including intricate design details such as silver wood shingle walls and peephole windows that create a dappled light effect, like sunlight through trees into the modern living space. Vast suspended windows overhang brimming green borders to lend a garden room feel.
The reason for being in Cornwall is to visit Trenoweth Vicarage, a grade II-listed structure, formerly a vicarage estate, dating back to 1880. It has been gently restored to create a wonderfully engaging family home by multi RIBA award-winning architect Amin Taha.
The property is made up of four individual parts in a clustered arrangement positioned at the top of the gently sloping site; the Main House, Coach House, Woodman’s Cottage and Gardener’s Cottage.
Watch Dermot Bannon's Incredible Homes every Sunday on RTÉ One at 9:30pm.
