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Irish Examiner
7 days ago
- Business
- Irish Examiner
Say a prayer for Marian Park home - it's entry level to Cork's Blackrock at €325k for a 760 sq ft two-bed
THERE's a bit of a difference in the positioning of the last three letters of the address of this property sale —No 55 Marian Park in Cork's chi-chi suburban Blackrock is not to be confused with Blackrock's Marina Park, a rapidly evolving public space, green lung, and eco-park in the making. 55 Marian Park has off street parking and faces west to the back 'This is entry level Blackrock,' says the selling agent of No 55 Marian Park, a mid-terrace, original-sized two-bed mid-1900s home, newly listed, with a €325,000 AMV. No 55's a former local authority home, just east of Beaumont and near a 1950s era Marian shrine off Church Road, and it has just 760 sq ft as it's currently configured. But, hey, don't be too sniffy about origins or size: just compare this to the listing of a similar era and similar-sized former Co Council home at 3 Fr McSweeney Tce in Scilly/Ardbrack Kinsale: that's a one-bed, 750 sq ft semi, with a whopping €1.35m price tag. No 3 Fr McSweeney Terrace, Ardbrack, Kinsale is a one-bed with a €1.35m AMV As it's Kinsale, it's likely to get close to this lofty sum, as neighbouring No 12 Fr McSweeney Tce (albeit slightly larger) in the same Scilly location fetched just last year — 'cos of the setting and the Kinsale harbour views. Well, back in Cork, Marian Park doesn't have water views. Here, the value of No 55 is underpinned by the Blackrock location and 'address' — none too scanty, and it's already over €1m 'cheaper' than its Kinsale cousin. It's in Cork city's southside suburbs, right on Church Rd, 150 metres from Blackrock's hurling heartland, the GAA club, function room, and pitches. It has the main Blackrock Rd a kilometre or so due north, where Church Rd meets the Circle K and convenience shop and the access point to the massively popular Blackrock greenway along the old rail line route. Blackrock village then is another half kilometre or so from Church Rd, whilst Skehard Rd is to the south, giving access to Mahon Point and the south city ring road/N40: it's a location for life? Clean condition Selling No 55 is Brian Olden of Cohalan Downing and it's been a well-kept rental for a number of years, but now is certain to find a private buyer who can just move straight in — it's clean and tidy — and they can make plans for upgrades at whatever pace suits them and with any future or further budget they might have. Rear view of 55 Marian Park Homes on No 55's left and right hand sides (pictured here) have both previously extended to the back, all sharing a perfect westerly aspect, and the garden is long and can take a sizeable add on: Google Earth shows a mid-terraced home four or five doors away on the Skehard side with an extension that may have trebled that one's accommodation? Adding on to the back of No 55 will take some thought, however, given the pre-existence of extensions on its immediate neighbours' homes and any impact doing similar will have on them … nothing a good architect can't deal with. Right now double-fronted No 55 has a double aspect/front-to-back reception room left of the central hall, and on the right is a tiled reception room/ dining room linking to a rear kitchen with back garden access. Both reception rooms have black fireplaces, one fancy, the other plainer, and above are two bedrooms (one with a fireplace) and a bathroom with shower over the bath. The BER's an F, windows are aluminium and heating is via gas, while the back garden has a steel shed, a tiny timber shed and a concrete-built outhouse handily plumbed as a laundry/storage space along the boundary with the right hand neighbour. Prices at Marian Park over the past decade have ranged from €150,000 to €560,000 (for No 38 in 2023), depending on size, aspect, and condition. VERDICT: Entry level indeed now for Blackrock. Prices at Marian Park over the past decade have ranged from €150,000 to €560,000 (for No 38 in 2023,) depending on size, aspect and condition. What is unvarying is the ever-strengthening appeal the Church Road setting has, as Blackrock's appeal and amenities such as Marina Park continue to soar.
Irish Examiner
26-05-2025
- General
- Irish Examiner
Ballincurrig House in Cork's Douglas is a rarity - an intact Georgian home hiding out in the 'burbs
BALLINCURRIG covers a lot of diverse properties in Douglas, Cork, from the 1950s Ballincurrig Park housing estate in a cul de sac loop; to a pair of ornamental cast iron gates replete with shamrock at the entrance to former stables, now mews houses; to Ballincurrig Villa, and Ballincurrig House. Ballincurrig townland Douglas Ballincurrig also crops up in the address of a number of one-off houses in Douglas, including here, at Ballincurrig House itself, and its red-brick gate lodge behind electric access gates, all out of sight on the South Douglas Road. A true Georgian era home with roots put at 1820, Ballincurrig House must be one of a very small number of authentic, remaining period homes in the stretch between Douglas Village and Cork City. When built 200 years ago, it was in pure countryside, a far cry from what's now wall-to-wall 21st century suburbia….notions of a vast array of later 19th, 20th and now 21st century mass housing, shopping centres, and cafes must have been the very last thing on its original builders and family owners' minds. Georgian grace This elegant and quite simple Georgian home would have followed the likes of Douglas's far grander Maryborough House (1730s) and Vernon Mount (1790s) in Grange, with other homes of the 19th century around Douglas including at Eglantine, Endsleigh Knockrea House, and Tramore House, with the latter two dating also to the 1820s. Most of the era are gone, or vastly altered, or have lent their rich names to housing estates that got build on their lands. Others, like Vernon Mount, stand (or fall?) as a crime of neglect after arson claimed it a decade ago. This is all to the point that true, original older Georgian homes in and around the southside suburb are rare birds indeed. Hideaway As Ballincurrig House, out of sight and private on a 0.8 of an acre off the South Douglas Road, comes to market, with a €1.25m guide price, it has value on lots, and lots, of fronts. It's a rare home type, has huge retained integrity and architectural delights, and is in a very strong location. It has more than 3,000 sq ft, over two-three main internal levels, is in good physical shape, entirely habitable but in need of TLC and sensitive 'modernising', and exudes its own charm too, ready to be enhanced. Happy half landings It has been the private home of a member of a Cork business family, primarily in the hospitality sector, and has been maintained over their decades of ownership, while various 'new' developments and infill schemes crept in around it, such as Skehanore, Cuasnog and Ashdene, Glencurrig, and even the 'new' Nemo Rangers GAA pitches. It's set more directly to the south of a Texaco station and semi-detached homes at Briarville on the back of South Douglas Road: yet, given the maturity of the trees ringing its c 0.8 of grounds, you'd never know they were there, or vice versa or, even where exactly you are. Selling agents Malcolm Tyrrell and Brian Olden of Cohalan Downing are set to start viewings. Mr Tyrrell says: 'There have been so few sales of proper detached Georgian Cork city and suburban homes in recent years, this should be seen for what it is, a prize: it's a wonderful 19th century period home with charm and character, with very many of the original features including cornicing, ceiling roses, fireplaces, stained glass, sash windows and the like all intact.' Quietly distinguished (and not too much larger than many modern Douglas area and Tiger times' era detacheds) Ballincurrig House is three-bay, with hipped slate roof and deep eaves, with porch with limestone hearth stone, timber sash windows rendered façade and front façade windows unusually decorated with stucco lion's heads. Internally it has central hall carpeted and painted a deep red with that colour carrying up over half levels to the top of the house, with typically high ceilings with decorative plasterwork, and formal reception rooms left and right, both double aspect with good chimney pieces, while behind is a dining room and utility, with kitchen annexe off to one side. One of the five bedrooms There are up to five bedrooms of varying sizes (two are double aspect, with bathrooms, over the next upper levels/off half landings, with elegant staircase with slender spindles and polished woof handrails connecting all the levels. Despite its venerable age, Ballincurrig House is not a protected structure, has an E1 BER, central heating and security alarm, with mature grounds and a side lawn big enough for a tennis court. VERDICT: The Property Price Register shows c 50 €1m+ sales with a Douglas Cork address: this year has seen several houses in the locale offered at €1m-€2m+ price tags, are under offer or sale agreed at this sort of level. Ballincurrig House is about to join that burgeoning number, with a bright future ahead of it too.
