Parochial hall has lots of potential

WITH a big Blackrock home gone for €1.6 million, auctioneer Malcolm Tyrrell of Cohalan Downing has moved rather to the other end of the sales spectrum for his next property he is selling a tin shed.

Following the swift disposal by private auction of Sharon Vale last week (a detached 2,000 sq ft four-bed home on a one-third of an acre site on Cork's Blackrock Road,) his next offering is the old parochial hall on Church Road nearby in Blackrock.

Originally built for the 1902 Great Exhibition and moved after the event to this southside suburb where it has rested ever since, this wood and corrugated hall's time has now come for a final resting place. Being sold as a site, with valuable outline planning permission for a two-storey house, the plot measures 59' across the front and 100' deep approximately a sixth of an acre.

It fronts St Michael's Tennis and Bowling Club, so there are sporting views to be had from the back of the property, and the prospect of building a two-storey house will fuel demand even further.

Mr Tyrrell guides the site at €300,000-plus, and though there's no offers yet, it is set to progress nicely in bids once viewers calculate building costs and the eventual value of a house in such a setting.