MY FAVOURITE ROOM

Life in a Martello tower

There was a time when inside toilets were such a luxury, only the wealthy could afford them. As for the hoi polloi, they often had to share a toilet with their neighbours, and queue to use it. So, no surprise, then, that the common soldiers who were stationed at Bartra Martello tower, built in 1804 as a defence garrison, only had the use of an outside job.

Bartra tower, however, probably now has the most luxurious outside toilet in Ireland. The tower, in a spectacular location by the sea in Dalkey, was recently renovated and turned into a stunning home, complete with stylish bathrooms, by architect Simone Stephenson. Nothing was neglected, not even the humble outside toilet, which is beautifully fitted out in state-of-the-art sanitary ware.

As her surname suggests, architecture is in Simone’s genes; she is the niece of the 20th Century’s most famous Irish architect, Sam Stephenson. She acknowledges the part Sam played in her pursuit of the profession, but she says her own creativity and style came from her mother, Helen, who actually owns the tower and commissioned Simone to renovate it.

The family had lived in a large house nearby — Bartra House — and when they sold it, they retained some of the land, which included the tower. “I was lucky I grew up surrounded by style; it’s in my blood,” Simone enthuses. “My mother really is extraordinary — she was designing a range of clothes for Arnotts when she was still in her teens.”

It transpires that her mother, Helen, was from Clare, and when she was 16, she answered an ad for a job at a manufacturers in Dublin. She was sent drawings from Vogue magazine, asked to make up patterns based on the drawings, and then present herself in Dublin for the interview.

“My grandmother, Lena Brown, the postmistress in Kilkee at the time, saw her off on the train on the famous West Clare Railway. She told Helen she wouldn’t get the job, but the interview would be great experience,” Simone says.

However, when Helen turned up at the interview, she found the company had made up the patterns, were thrilled with the resulting outfits, and offered her a job on the spot. Shortly afterwards, she was headhunted by Arnotts — recruited by Mr Nesbitt himself, then MD as well as being a member of the family who owned Arnotts — and asked to design a Junior Miss collection.

Of course, when Helen met and

‘My father did the crazy thing and bought the house. She said, “I don’t want to move.” He said, “I’m moving”’

married Simone’s father, Noel, she had to give up her burgeoning design career, as was the regulation in those days.

However, according to Simone, her mother has continued throughout her life to bring her style and creativity to everything she does, including her homes and her children. “She was always making cushions and curtains; she has exquisite taste,” says Simone.

“She made myself and my older sister beautiful clothes when we were young. My dad was mad on skiing; mum was more into the shopping in the ski resorts. She used to buy embroidered trims and make us Tyrolean capes, and my sister and I would traipse off to Mass showing them off,” Simone recalls with a laugh, adding that she also had three brothers. Sadly, her beloved brother Karl was killed in a car accident in his late teens, in 1989; a tragic event which broke all their hearts.

Helen created beautiful homes for the family in different parts of south Co Dublin. Noel, a successful businessman, was also very hands-on. “Actually, there was nothing my father could not tackle,” Simone says with a laugh. “If you were sick, he was the doctor. Sure, why would you get a painter when you could paint the place yourself ? This was before Woodies and all the other DIY shops sprung up. He was the best customer at the Dalkey hardware shop. As for gardening, he had the wheelbarrow out every weekend.”

Simone was a teenager when the family moved to Bartra House. As far as she was concerned, at the time, there was no need to move; they already had a beautiful home in Woodbine Road. “The house in Woodbine had been all done up, the garden was beautiful.

“Then Mum spotted Bartra House was for sale. She picked me up from school to go and see it. The big house was dark and dreary, but it was still an amazing property, right on the water. Because she grew up in Kilkee, she always had a gra for the sea. So Mum went back and told Dad she’d love it. He, of course, said, ‘Are you mad? We’ve just done this place up’,” Simone recalls.

She did persuade him to go and see it, and, according to Simone, the one thing