The owner of this Pleasants Place pad believes an Irish family member inspired the hero from \u2018Ulysses\u2019\n<\/p>\n
Asking Price: \u20ac495,000<\/p>\n
Contact: Felicity Fox (01) 633 4431<\/p>\n
There has been much speculation over the decades about who inspired Joyce to create his character Leopold Bloom, the protagonist of Ulysses. The many theories include a businessmen Joyce knew in Trieste, a Dublin politician of the day and even a man who came to Joyce after he was beaten up in the street for approaching a jealous man\u2019s female partner.<\/p>\n
But Seattle-born mother of two Tana Kaplan Gray has another theory entirely. That the bold Leopold was her great-grand-uncle.<\/p>\n
When Kaplan Gray first came to view Apartment 4, The Daintree off Camden Street, she and her now husband fell for it immediately. \u201cThe eco-friendly aspect was part of the package that attracted us,\u201d says the home working mum of two. \u201cBut I was also drawn to the location.\u201d<\/p>\n
The site was significant as her grandmother, a Jewish woman called Deborah Spiro, who later married a Bloom, had grown up around the corner in a house on Clanbrassil Street. \u201cFor me, it was the closing of a full circle moment,\u201d Kaplan Gray says. \u201cMy grandmother was part of the Jewish community here and I could walk past the house in which she\u2019d lived. She attended Trinity College in the 1930s and studied medicine there.\u201d<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Apartment owner Tana Kaplan Gray. Photo: Barbara McCarthy<\/p>\n
In fact, family legend has it that the character of Bloom in James Joyce\u2019s 1922 novel was based on either one of her grandmother\u2019s two uncles, Charles or Abram Spiro, who also lived locally.<\/p>\n
Kaplan Gray and her husband Stuart, who works in tech, had met in Trinity College after she moved here from Seattle in her second year to study English literature, and the 623sq ft apartment was their first property together. \u201cWe were excited to move in,\u201d she recalls. \u201cWe were still in our mid- to late-20s and it was a fun time in our lives.\u201d<\/p>\n
![\"The](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/1c930a52-454f-42ce-9aea-3fa08da8b3e4.jpg\")
<\/p>\n
The open-plan living space<\/p>\n
The apartment is one of eight residential units in Daintree, which is an award-winning sustainable building complex, off Pleasants Street and renowned for its progressive outlook and natural wood theme. Eco-friendly architecture has grown in popularity, but there was nothing like it in Dublin at the time.<\/p>\n
Daintree was the work of architects Brian O\u2019Brian and Mike Haslam of Solearth Architecture, who \u2013 despite just having started off in their architecture careers \u2013 were tasked with the project in 2004 by Paul Barnes, the owner of Daintree Paper, a former paper craft and stationary shop on Camden Street, which is now The Lost Bookshop. Their remit was to create a tranquil space for both businesses and living and that would \u201csmell like baking bread\u201d.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
The open-plan kitchen<\/p>\n
The structure was, in fact, one of the first modern multi-storey eco buildings in Dublin and contained a large amount of low-emission, green features. Both the structure and the finish of the building are made of timber and rendered with lime and copper.<\/p>\n
The insulation, for example, is made from sheep\u2019s wool and there are solar thermal panels which allow the water to be heated by the sun. A geo-thermal heating system, and the first large-scale heat pumps in Dublin, were installed. The pump had three different bore holes and went down 500-metres deep into the ground to bring up the heat. The building has a low energy A3 heat rating as a result.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Bedroom<\/p>\n
\u201cWe loved the fact that we had on-demand hot water and heating because of the heating system,\u201d says Kaplan Gray. \u201cAnd even having glass recycling on site was novel at the time.\u201d<\/p>\n
When it came to designing the residential units, O\u2019Brien and Haslam attempted to have as much height and to bring in as much light as possible, and to make the most of the south-facing views. \u201cIt\u2019s an airy, light-filled space with big windows and a balcony,\u201d says Kaplan Gray. \u201cI loved the feeling of openness in the apartment, but it could also be cosy in the winter. You could come into it and just shut out the outside world. It felt peaceful and comforting.\u201d<\/p>\n
![\"Brian](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/bab87c1f-3a31-4d3d-80a1-d0fa7ef2a1bf.jpg\")
<\/p>\n
Brian O’Brien of Solearth Architecture<\/p>\n
The pristine white and cream walls throughout and the white kitchen with its wood and granite countertops, add to the feeling of space. The furnishings are simple and modern like the two-seater grey couch and the white armchair in the living space.<\/p>\n
The main bedroom has a large walk-in wardrobe, while the second bedroom is a comfortable small double, which could alternatively be used as a guest room or an office.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
The front entrance<\/p>\n
The finishings are top of the range throughout. Reclaimed wooden floorboards were used in the open-plan kitchen\/living space. \u201cThe kitchen was beautiful and nicer than the cookie cutter developments of the time,\u201d says Kaplan Gray. \u201cIn fact, the apartment was designed so well that we didn\u2019t need to change anything and it has been very easy to maintain.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Daintree courtyard, below the apartments, has an award-winning landscaped garden, designed by Robert Heslip, and is surrounded by bamboo walls. Beside it and underneath it sits the popular Cake Caf\u00e9. \u201cIt\u2019s like an urban oasis,\u201d says Kaplan Gray. \u201cWhen I was pregnant and used to get hungry, I\u2019d often pop down to the Cake Cafe for a slice of cake. Sometimes they\u2019d offer me half the entire cake and ask me to bring the plate back the following day,\u201d she laughs.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
The exterior of the apartment<\/p>\n
\u201cThe staff were lovely,\u201d she adds. \u201cDespite the fact that it was in the middle of a city, the whole complex was a friendly community and we sometimes attended gatherings in the courtyard.<\/p>\n
The couple moved to Rathgar in 2011 as they were planning to expand their family, and the apartment has been rented out since then.<\/p>\n
They\u2019re selling it now, however, as they no longer want to be landlords. \u201cIt was never part of the plan, but we were attached to it and didn\u2019t want to sell it,\u201d she says. \u201cBut we\u2019re ready to let it go now.”<\/p>\n
Its location is ideal for anyone attracted to city living. \u201cYou can walk to Grafton Street or Stephen\u2019s Green in less than five minutes, and all the amenities you need are right on your doorstep.\u201d <\/p>\n
She\u2019s feeling nostalgic about selling it. \u201cI\u2019m expecting to feel sad once it\u2019s sold,\u201d she says. \u201cIt\u2019s hard not to get attached to a place that you\u2019ve been happy in.\u201d<\/p>\n
Felicity Fox seeks \u20ac495,000.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The owner of this Pleasants Place pad believes an Irish family member inspired the hero from \u2018Ulysses\u2019 Asking…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":58652,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[61,60,898,80],"class_list":{"0":"post-58651","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-technology","8":"tag-ie","9":"tag-ireland","10":"tag-latest-news-ticker","11":"tag-technology"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/58651","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=58651"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/58651\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/58652"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=58651"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=58651"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=58651"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}