Look inside: Avoca Avenue ‘modern house’ with historic hosiery link for €4.5m

If you delve through the history of Streamwood, a detached 1930s home on Avoca Avenue in Blackrock, built in the modernist style, you’ll find a curious detail that suggests the IRA had taken an inordinate interest in British soldiers’ underpants.

The house’s original owner, William Newton Crawford, owned the Blackrock Hosiery Company on nearby Brookfield Avenue, whose Rock underwear brand was famous for its “durability”, “exquisite texture” and “elasticity”. During the War of Independence, when Crawford’s father ran the business, the IRA apparently got its knickers in a twist over the brand, sending the company a warning letter ordering it to cease supplying its goods to “any section of the Imperial forces at present at war with the Irish Republic”.

The younger Crawford engaged Frederick MacManus, a Dún Laoghaire architect strongly influenced by modernism, to build Streamwood in 1936. Its distinctive rectangular shape and flat roof set it apart from the period houses on Avoca Avenue, and it became known locally as “the modern house”.

The current owners bought the house from Crawford in 1969, and brought up their four children here, who recall happy childhood years playing in the gardens on the sprawling 0.9-acre site – one of the largest residential sites on Avoca Avenue. They had a huge front garden surrounded by magnificent trees, including a holly and a copper beech, a mini soccer pitch in the middle of the back garden, and a tennis court at the end where an orchard used to stand.

They also remember musical parties in the drawingroom, where their father, a keen pianist and composer, and Castlebar Song Contest winner, would entertain guests such as Johnny Logan and Red Hurley on the grand piano in the drawingroom. The layout of the house meant guests could gather in the long, wide hallway, where there is an open fire, and easily flit between the sittingroom, drawingroom and diningroom.

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The owners added a kitchen/breakfastroom to the back, and also built a main bedroom extension downstairs, with oak parquet flooring, ceiling coving, recessed downlights and built-in wardrobes. A large window and door give great views and access to the back garden, and there’s a fully tiled en suite shower room with a big corner window.

There are a further five bedrooms upstairs, reached via an impressive staircase with a distinctive concrete balustrade. Two large garages also adjoin the house, giving an overall area of 380sq m (4,090sq ft). The D1-Ber-rated house has a lot of scope to refurbish and extend (it’s not a listed building), and also for further development – subject to planning permission – on the spacious site. It is on the market through Lisney Sotheby’s International Realty, seeking €4.5 million.

The large windows are designed to bring in maximum light from all sides, and the entrance hall has a large window looking out to the rear. The hall has oak parquet flooring and a fireplace with limestone surround and slate hearth. The three reception rooms run the entire length of the house, and have coving on the high ceilings.

The drawingroom has a feature marble fireplace and the diningroom has a fireplace with limestone surround, slate hearth and inset and gas fire doors lead out to the south-facing terrace to the front. Both the diningroom and kitchen/breakfastroom have tiled floors, while the kitchen/breakfastroom has fitted floor-level units, tiled worktops and centre island. Off the kitchen is an inner lobby with a door to the back garden and leads into a spacious utility room.

Also on ground-floor level is a guest WC beside the entrance porch, and an inner lobby/cloakroom beside the main bedroom, with oak parquet flooring. Four of the bedrooms upstairs are good-sized doubles, and four have built-in wardrobes, while one has louvred door wardrobes. All the upstairs bedrooms benefit from large windows letting in light. The family bathroom has tiled floors and walls, and bath with monsoon-style shower head.

Besides the two large garages, there is also a stand-alone outhouse that could be converted into an office or games room. Avoca Avenue is convenient to both Blackrock and Stillorgan villages, Blackrock Dart station and the main bus routes on the Rock Road, Mount Merrion Avenue and the N11. Nearby schools include Carysfort National School, Sion Hill, Blackrock College, Willow Park, St Mary’s and St Andrew’s.