Cooldrinagh

Detached three-bay (two-bay deep) two-storey house with half-dormer attic, built 1902-3; occupied 1911, on a square plan. For sale, 2015. Set in landscaped grounds.

A house erected for William Frank Beckett (1871-1933) to a design by Frederick George Hicks (1870-1965) of Kildare Street, Dublin (Irish Builder 26th February 1903, 1614), representing an important component of the early twentieth-century domestic built heritage of south County Dublin with the architectural value of the composition, one showing the development of the so-called "Royal Exchange Estate" as 'a picturesque garden city [with] houses of the new type…designed by architects and well designed too' (The Irish Builder and Engineer 4th February 1911, 80; cf. 60230019; 60230038; 60230041; 60260177; 60260195; 60260198; 60260199; 60260227; 60260230), confirmed by such attributes as the compact plan form; the diminishing in scale of the multipartite openings on each floor producing a graduated visual impression with the principal "apartments" defined by polygonal bay windows; and the high pitched roofline. Having been well maintained, the elementary form and massing survive intact together with substantial quantities of the original fabric, both to the exterior and to the remodelled interior where contemporary joinery; and decorative plasterwork enrichments, all highlight the artistic potential of a house given as the birthplace of Samuel Barclay Beckett (1906-89). NOTE: The house takes its name from the childhood home of Mary "May" Beckett (née Roe) (1871-1950) at Cooldrinagh House in Leixlip.