Rathmahon likely to stir autumn sales

THERE are at least six strongly desirable addresses in Cork city. On the north side, there's Montenotte and Sunday's Well.

In the west there's the Model Farm Road, new and old, and in the south, there's the Douglas, Rochestown, Blackrock and Castle Roads.

And while that doesn't cover all covetable areas in the city, those mentioned have all had record-breaking sales over the last five or six years.

However, way back when the Celtic Tiger was still in gestation, it was Castle Road which set the city benchmark when a house was sold for the then phenomenal sum of £465,000, just shy of €½ million. This was shocking at the time, but it was a harbinger for the boom to come.

Despite the frantic market, the lovely old homes on Castle Road don't come up that often. This week Malcolm Tyrrell of Cohalan Downing launches Rathmahon, a five to six-bedroom house which should create a bit of a stir.

Two storeys over basement, the 1870s house is symmetrical and its modest look belies the sunny and warm family home that lies behind.

The main entrance is to the side, where the old porch has been replaced with an almost identical mahogany model. The main hallway, dressed in pitch pine scotia with wallpaper overhead gives an old-fashioned feeling and leads on to an impressive sitting room.

Originally two rooms, it runs to 30 feet across and has three windows overlooking the Marina. Dressed in heavy drapes, with ruby-red decor and a centrepiece white marble fireplace, this reception room, like most of the ground floor, has a polished pitch pine floor.

At the end of the hallway is the kitchen/dining area and this has a bank of units running along one side with a sitting/dining area at the other and a pantry running towards the north side of the house.

The most striking feature of the kitchen has to be the large square conservatory leading out to the garden. Facing full south, this is an all-year round room.

The main staircase rises from midway in the hallway, with a study to one side, and leads to four good bedrooms, one of which is en-suite and a very large and bright, master bedroom. The attic is ready to go with Velux windows, (it's had a new roof), and there's a self-contained basement area with two more bedrooms, a kitchen/utility and bathroom, as well as two storerooms.

Throw in a huge, limestone-walled garden with old apple trees and you have the ideal family home. The guide price for Rathmahon is €900,000.