apartments and barbershop, temple barapartments at macreddin
apartment building and barbershop at Temple Bar - completed 2000
An existing period building beside the River Liffey in central Dublin was home to three generations of gentlemen’s barbers, and was in need of structural repair and renovation. A scheme was developed to convert the upper floors of the building and to redesign the barbershop. The existing staircase was removed and a new glass stair tower was built at the rear, allowing each floor to become an independent one-bedroom apartment with living room overlooking the street. Finally, an additional storey was added at the top, with a setback providing a balcony with views to the river and to the new Temple Bar Square in the other direction.
The owners, a father and son, both barbers, representing different eras with different ideas of fashion and style, had to be reconciled to a new look for the shop. The solution was found in a return to the character of Dublin shops of the 1940’s, which recalled the father’s tastes as a young man, but were sufficiently avant-garde that they easily translated to a contemporary aesthetic appreciated by the son. Therefore the shopfront uses coloured glass and chrome, while the interior is decorated in plywood panels, reeded glass and early modern fittings.