Latest news with #Kinsale-based
Irish Examiner
01-05-2025
- Business
- Irish Examiner
West-Acre for €950,000 could become a fore-ever home
As good as built all over again, and good as new, is West Acre, a very substantial, super-sized family home of 4,300 sq ft, on three acres, in Cork's Corran, Waterfall. A short haul out to the west from the city and suburbs, it comes complete with a putting green for golf fun and a stable block. The current owners bought here back in 2003, but what they bought isn't what you see now: what was possibly a 1980s era home was largely removed and replaced with a far larger five-bed home, with all of the current accommodation on the one level, all under a new roof, with little other than some of the original walls kept. Moving 20 years on, it's now downsize time for the family with two sons at the late teens/college going years, who've loved the freedom to roam, the pristine golf green to putt about on, and as one's now a car driver 'we'll even throw a pony into the sale,' the owners joke. West Acre is just listed this week with agent Sean McCarthy, of ERA Downey McCarthy, with a €950,000 AMV which is based not only on the demand for the area — always popular with affluent buyers in tech and medics due to proximity to CUH, the Bons and Marymount, as well as to third level colleges and Ballincollig — but also due to is scale and quality. The redesign was commissioned pretty much after the purchase 22 years ago, with the services of Kinsale-based architect Richard Rainey drafted in, and it more than doubled the original size, with a sort of staggered front to back geometric floor plan a bit like the letter Z, which allows for lots of windows, corners, and corner windows, as well as having a slight internal split level and lots of patios sections, with different aspects for various times of the day, and play. The main living and day rooms are at one end, off and around an L-shaped entry hall with overhead Veluxes, along with an extensively book-shelved study, gym with glazed external access door/bedrooms six, and plant room and with large kitchen/dining room with Siematic units, high end appliances, Britannia range cooker, Neff coffee maker, large white stone island plus fireplace. A walnut floored living room by the kitchen/diner shares a chimney with the kitchen for a back-to-back fireplace with stove and has patio access. A separate sitting room diagonally across the expansive hall has twin corner windows, either side of a large chimneypiece with open fire, and the owners say their home has always been a great party house, at Christmasses indoors, and outdoors in kinder weather and summer months. This home's rear section has three of its five/six bedrooms en suite, two with dressing rooms (depending on bed/gym usage) with the furthermost one also having a dressing room, and external access, making for an attractive main suite retreat. Overall condition, décor and presentation are excellent (underfloor heating, American walnut flooring etc) as befits a home with a price guide at this sort of 'just shy of €1m' level (see also following p10/11 Waterfall home feature,) and as good as the internal quality are the landscaped gardens and grounds, divided into various sections, with privacy, paths and circular drive inside stone entrance pillars, with electric access gates, CCTV and more. VERDICT: Waterfall's West Acre doubled up size and quality-wise back in 2004, overseen by an architect, and its owners' own tastes ensure it has stayed fresh and modern ever since, even down to the on-trend colour black on the external walls. There's even room (and stables) for a pony or two, but in case you haven't yet got to the pony, this Corran home is also on a bus route.....
Irish Examiner
22-04-2025
- General
- Irish Examiner
Cork heritage group gets go-ahead to build Lusitania museum
A Kinsale-based heritage group has received planning permission from Cork County Council for a new museum to commemorate the Lusitania. The Old Head Signal Tower Heritage CLC has gotten the green light for a new Lusitania Museum on a site close to where the vessel infamously sank more than 100 years ago. The group said that the new museum can act as a draw to tourists that will benefit not just Kinsale but surrounding towns too, as it lies on the designated Wild Atlantic Way touring route. During World War One, the British passenger liner Lusitania was torpedoed by a German U-boat off the Cork coast, resulting in almost 1,200 deaths. The event was seen as a heinous act by the Germans, and is believed to be a contributory factor in the US joining the war in 1917. The bid for planning sought permission to demolish existing temporary structures on the site and the removal of the existing on-site wastewater treatment plant. In its place, it sought permission to build a single-storey, L-shaped museum incorporating an exhibition space, cafe, gift shop and more across 641m2. In a planning statement, they said: 'The proposed development aims to ensure the continued and improved use of the site as The Lusitania Museum and Memorial Garden. 'This site is significant as it represents the closest point of land to the final resting place of the RMS Lusitania. It also incorporates Ireland's only restored Napoleonic Signal Tower, one of 81 coastal defences built in 1801.' The applicant clarified that the bid for permission does not involve any works to the signal tower structure and would establish a 'high-quality tourism facility' that encourages visitors to explore surrounding towns and villages. It added: 'By employing an innovative and sensitive design approach, in conjunction with previous conservation initiatives, this project aims to meet visitor demand, improve the visitor experience, and elevate Cork county's status as a premier national and international tourism destination.' Gregg Bemis In 2019, an American businessman donated the wreck of the Lusitania to the heritage group. Multi-millionaire Gregg Bemis had originally acquired joint ownership of the vessel in the 1960s and fought multiple legal battles to verify his ownership. He was also a regular visitor to Kinsale and was hailed as a 'good friend and benefactor' of the town when he passed away in 2020. Mr Bemis had said it was "very important" to get all the artifacts from the wreck into the planned museum. Read More The Lusitania wreck is facing collapse. The race is on to save as many artefacts as possible
