Worth waiting for...

Calypso is a find for sea lovers and families in need of space, with potential for another home on site.

THERE’S almost two houses, or one house plus the promise of another bang-up-to-date one on a site below it, at the Cork harbour home called Calypso.

The name comes from the boat used by ocean explorer Jacques Cousteau, and reflects this Monkstown, Cork harbour, home owners’ love of boats and the sea.

One of the owners is a former international yachtsman, and the next family generation also have answered the call of the sea — not too surprisingly, as the sea and the launching slip at the Sand Quay are just a few hundred yards away.

This house is well-placed for lovers of all things maritime, as it has fantastic views over the old Verolme dockyard, out to the naval base at Haulbowline and west towards Monkstown’s new yacht marina. All the while, yachts, boats and ships pass underneath in an ever changing trooping of activity.

A big, architect-designed 1970s house, with its best living quarter on the top deck, the 3,200 sq ft five bed family home on Monkstown’s Fairy Hill comes to market on its commanding half acre site with Malcolm Tyrrell of Cohalan Downing guiding €575,000. That price includes the house itself and the lower garden portion which has full planning in place for a second, contemporary-style 2,515 sq ft home over a 450 sq ft garage/workshop. Design for the balcony-decked new home is by Blue House Architects, and like its older structure, its best, uppermost viewing spots are given over to living quarters.

The bulk of the existing half-acre site division will rest with the existing two-storey, upside down house, very much “of its time internally”, with some parana pine ceilings (with brass porthole lights,) fairface painted block walls, and with large picture windows to front facade’s south-east orientation. In fact, Calyspo follows design principles which are very much back in vogue in the past decade.

The lively family home with a good spread of bedrooms and accommodation (plus an upper-level sun/boat-watching room) has been well-kept, but probably now needs a bit of a shake-up, the essentials are all sound, the location and aspect is ace, and the views are beguiling, with the local mid 1800s Sacred Heart Church in the foreground, and harbour-heaven beyond.

VERDICT: With an existing good-sized dwelling, and full planning for a similar sized second home on its lower grounds, there’s a choice of berth options for families looking for space.