Rising above history

ONE of the very early owners of number 8 Audley Place, on the tip top of Patrick’s Hill in Cork city, placed an interesting codicil on the deeds of the property.

Should his daughter consort with Papists, she was not to inherit the house. Bigotry skipped that particular generation and the house was inherited instead by a nephew.

Now, years from the 1830s when this house was built, the property is being passed on again, this time via the open market.

Audley Place is late Georgian, according to selling agent Andy Moore, of Andrew Moore and Co. The row of properties was built for the officer classes of the barracks directly behind them, re-christened Collins Barracks when the predominantly Papist, new Republicans came marching in, in the 20s.

Now number 8 is so quintessentially Cork that it's to be the setting for a new Murphy's Stout advertisement: the panoramic views from the front room say it all.

Faced to take in the rising and the setting of the sun, (according to the owners, Hugh and Celia, it's the only place where the sun sets in the northside), the house is warm and lived-in and doesn't feel old at all.

Neither has it been ferociously made over it has just been well cared for over the years.

There is no hint of mildew, no musty scents, even in the attic rooms. Although the house faces north at the back, the main living room opens into the kitchen giving plenty of light. The high back garden manages to get all day sunshine.

It could be said that 8 Audley Place is a house of two parts. The ground floor reception rooms and the kitchen to the rear could function separately from the rest of the house. These rooms, and a separate bathroom, have access onto the rear yard, (whitewashed and bright), where there's a flight of enclosed step to the upper patio and garden.

At this level, there's a separate galley kitchen that leads onto a dining room, which in turn connects to another drawing room through double doors.

The ground floor could function as a separate apartment or continue to be used as part of the house.

Because one of the vendors is a stained glass artist, the occasional window displays her work and adds a neat, artistic touch to landings and tucked away corners.

This house is not a sprawling, Victorian three-storey, but a neat and commodious property of 2,000 square feet. Because of the layout at present, with two formal reception rooms and two dining grooms, it has just three bedrooms, but this count could be upped with a different configuration. Two bathrooms are also included.

Audley place comes with new hardwood windows, gas central heating as well as original cornicing and fireplaces.

The back garden is an anomaly. Calm and private and just five minutes from Patrick's Street, it's walled in by limestone and has a handy mews entrance through a back door in the high, old walls.

Andrew Moore is starting at a guide price of €400,000 for this lovely house.