Overlook the city in a perfect Edwardian house

HERBERT PARK is where the 1900s house builder Sam Hill met the steep incline Gardiners Hill, in Cork city.

What he built there, in classic Edwardian styling, is a monument to good practice and design; builders aping the Georgian and Victorian look would do well to consider Edwardian in their mix of plundered designs.

The term ‘des res’ might well have been coined for the handful of these handsome Herbert Park houses - there are just six - and they’re covetable... perfection in a park.

Set in a cul de sac on the hill above St Luke’s Cross, Herbert Park was originally gated when built as an investment for his own family almost a century ago by Hill.

Herbert Park has different houses on either side, including the very grand Herbert Park House, owned by the Sisk family, and the two so-called ‘Electric Houses’, the first to showcase the glories of electricity.

But, the identifiable half dozen are set in three groups of semis, big, double-fronted homes of distinction, with architectural detailing. The features to the tall, front facade include sash windows with subtle red brick patterns around the frames, terracotta tiles, finials, and stucco work.

Originally owned and leased out to tenants by the Hill family, they only came up for private purchase in ensuing and latter decades, and in the last decade a number have come up for sale as occupancy cycles turn.

The owners of 5 Herbert Park arrived in 1978, making a move from Bellvue Park, coincidentally another Sam Hill development, also in St Luke’s Cross. They did everything that needed doing - wiring, heating, kitchen changes, attic dormers to the back and immense garden changes - to the three-storey home, in which they reared four children, and are now preparing to downsize.

Jarleth Boyd and Peter Cave of Hamilton Osborne King have the sale of number 5, and they’ll be busy doing viewings. The €975,000 guide price won’t put buyers off; the house and gardens are ready to transfer over.

The cheering thing is the owners here did everything exactly right, paying respect to the house’s heritage and features, keeping originality without being slaves to it.

The place is gleaming and beguiling, from the front kerbstone right through the original polished floors and brasses to the back garden’s Eastern-inspired landscaping.