Classic architect-designed 1960s home

ATTENTION to the finer details distinguishes Calobra, clearly an architect-designed 1960s home in Cork's Blackrock village and a place which has consistently moved with the times.

The family home of Ian and Nuala White since it was built 40 years ago on part of the former grounds of Dundanion house, it is up for sale on a mature private roadside site: it has a €900,000-plus price guide indicated by Tim Sullivan, who has a strong selling presence in this well-off south side suburb.

Not only is the vendor Ian White an architect, he is also a pretty nifty carpenter, and the evidence of his handiwork - DIY is definitely too downmarket a term for his skill - is in this house in abundance, inside and out.

The house has been extended and altered several times in its lifetime, with a pitched roof put up over the original, gently sloping first roof and which now supplies copious attic storage.

Another raised section, creating a sort of US clapboard beachhouse impression with its horizontal cladding, has created a large and warm master bedroom, with walk-in wardrobe, good en suite with double shower and an office or den.

There's probably 2,300 sq ft of space in all, with a formal dual aspect dining room with exposed limestone wall using stove salvaged from creating the entranceway. There's a large living room to the south-facing front of the house, there's a smart kitchen/breakfast area fashioned in various timbers by Ian, along with an entire wall of storage which can be removed if needs be to open up a huge "great room" linked into the living room. And, there's a snug family room to the rear, with glazing on three sides and a huge Jotul stove pumping out heat, and three ground floor bedrooms plus a smartly panelled main bathroom, plus a pantry and utility room.

Calobra is in pristine condition inside and out, it has double glazing and several window/door options for garden access, it has gas central heating, and the gardens are a glory with a 50-year-old stout copper beech standing sentinel at the entrance gates.