ARTIST Henry Pim is leaving his home of 13 years, 275 South Circular Road, Dublin 8, because he’s retiring from his job as a lecturer in ceramics at NCAD at the end of the year.
Pim, who is known for his ceramic collages and sculptures, which are exhibited in museums around the world, is moving back to his native London. DNG is now selling his four-bedroom 160sq m (1,722sq ft) terraced house, seeking offers of €660,000.
The minute you step into the entrance hall and see bird feathers stuck in a section of the wall, it’s obvious that a quirky, creative type lives here.
Pim says he loves to dabble with colour and try new ideas and the feathers (which, incidentally, aren’t included in the sale) are the latest in a long line of unusual creations to grace the hall.
“There’s a feather I found on the Acropolis in Athens last summer and the others are from the wings of some late lamented chicken in Kerry, sent up to Dublin.”
“My friend and neighbour, Ingrid Craigie, plucked the wings for me because I’m a vegetarian and brought them around in a carrier bag.”
Off the entrance hall, which features some beautifully ornate plasterwork, there’s a blue sittingroom with a large sash window, a high ceiling and the original marble mantelpiece which Pim has covered with white Staffordshire dogs.
He’s a compulsive reader of interiors magazines of all kinds and says he “fastidiously” restored all the original features in the house “so there was a lot of sanding and filling”.
Also at hall level there’s a kitchen-cum-diner with views of the lush rear garden.
Upstairs, there are three double bedrooms and a single. The doubles are all a reasonable size. The main bedroom on the first return has an energising white, mauve and yellow-green colour scheme, custom-made storage, good wardrobe space and a shower en suite which could do with a little improvement.
Most of the bedrooms have cast iron fireplaces, which have been given the Pim treatment – one is a lovely shade of maroon and another has been given a marbled effect.
At garden level there’s a studio that used to be the kitchen and a store room that currently houses a potter’s kiln.
The long, narrow, luxuriant rear garden is a mature, structured space, divided into three areas each with something lovely to look at all year round. Pim only began gardening when he moved to the South Circular Road.
“I watched a lot of gardening programmes on telly and visited Helen Dillon’s garden, and for the plants it was a case of survival of the fittest. “
Most of the neighbours have garages in the bottom section of the garden but Pim, who cycles everywhere, never built one. New owners will be able to park on street where there is residents’ disc parking.
High ceilings, original features and unusual touches add interest to a terraced house
275 South Circular Road, Dublin 8
lFour-bedroom terraced house, on the market for €660,000, has ornate plasterwork and other "fastidiously restored" original features
Agent: Douglas Newman Good
