Historic terraced home that’s king of the hill
Top of Wyse’s Hill, on the way up to Sunday’s Well, is Landscape Terrace, anchored by a spreading centuries’ old chestnut tree (see p1 pic) and where the pristine No 4 in the terrace of slate-hung historic homes is a new market arrival with Sherry FitzGerald.
And, at the bottom of Wyse’s Hill, Eddie O’Mahony of Cumnor Construction has his stunning Altus apartment scheme of 29 units coming close to fruition externally, with a world-class interior fit out evident in the show unit (see www.cumnor.ie for examples).
No sale prices are being revealed yet from selling agent John Collins, but expectations are that many of the units may priced well above the €500,000 mark.
The location of Wyse’s Hill is mostly about the views, but also making it a strong residential niche choice is the proximity to the city centre just beyond the North Mall, while the Mercy University Hospital and UCC, with its new research Tyndall Institute, are also nearby.
Both bookending or hill-bounding properties, Altus and the far older Landscape Terrace have a distinct advantage for today’s urban home hunters: they each have off-street parking available.
There’s a shared parking area under that dramatic chestnut tree at the entry point to Landscaped Terrace, originally built in 1836, with four houses (now five after a sub-division) in a row in one of Cork’s best viewing perches. There’s full-on south-facing views of the city, St Fin Barre’s Cathedral, the River Lee, a clutch of church spires, sundry 20th and 21st century Cathedrals of Commerce, and then, if your crane your neck eastwards, there’s Shandon Steeple and the harbour beyond the city’s island where the twin channels of the Lee reunite.
Having sold a few Sunday’s Well houses in the €500,000-plus league in recent weeks, estate agent Michael O’Donovan of Sherry FitzGerald is confident of finding No 4 a good home. He guides the fully upgraded three-bed of 1,260 sq ft at €415,000. It is, as he says, a walk-in job
It was larger, at one time, but a previous engineer owner doing renovations hived off the right-hand section as a second property, No 5, now entered from the gable end, so No 4 is more truncated than some of its neighbouring peers — but is still a good size, with a rather peerless interior, mixing contemporary with original features. There’s a main reception room to the left of the entry hall, some 16’ square, with high ceilings, cornice work, picture rail, and a replacement cast iron fireplace.
This room opens out to an adaptable rear kitchen/breakfast room, with a new kitchen in solid walnut, some feature radiators, and there’s rear access to a backyard, and steps up to the back for secondary access to Sunday’s Well Avenue. The house is reached via a pedestrian perimeter pathway, past three of its neighbours’ front gardens, and has its own southerly-aspected front garden and lawn, with a centrally-placed cordyline framing views across the city.
No 4 has a double-A roof, in slated, and so is quite deep, and overhead are three bedrooms, with two large ones front and back, each with great storage.
The third bedroom is small and to the front, warm and with great views, and the boutique hotel-suite standard bathroom is to the rear, with fully tiled walls in outside tiles, a stand-along bath with fancy shower, and generally high quality sanitary ware and vanity/storage units as well.
Original Georgian era architectural features retained inside include some doors, architraves, coving and cornice work and some honeyed, wide pine floorboards.
Despite being a protected terrace (the massive entry gates to Landscape Terrace are also protected) the windows to the front were replaced by previous owners, and are tilt and turn PVC with a mid-section break.
Some neighbouring houses on the terrace have kept the original sashes, one has a deep bay, and another gracious French doors, each has its various charms.
No 4’s window charm is most probably comfort.
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