Period bungalow bliss

Tommy Barker

Only a few years ago a Cork city planner quipped at a planning conference that the average Cork housebuyer wasn't fussy, they just wanted a bungalow on an acre, on Patrick Street, with views of the Lee.

Planners and those who heard the remark were bemused, knowing well the sort of wishful thinking behind such immodest desires.

Well, on the Waterford front, some dreamer's equally unlikely wish is about to be granted.

Glencove is a period single storey home (bungalow seems too modern a description: maybe villa is more appropriate), on the banks of the River Suir with views downriver and up towards the city centre and docks.

Yet, all the main views are pastoral and protected, but drive back up the private approach avenue for a minute, and you are at the roundabout by the entrance to the Ardkeen hospital and the Dunmore Road, with the city centre within walking distance.

Estate agent John Shelly of Shee and Hawe is selling the extraordinarily sited Glencove for its owner of the last 25 years or so, and simply says "nothing else like this has come up for sale for ages, it is probably unique in any Irish city."

The house of 2,600 sq ft was built in two periods, in 1730 and added to in 1880. It belonged originally to the Goff estate, and later was owned by the McBride family who owned the now defunct Grants builders providers.

Although single storey, it is not without its grand touches: some nice corniced ceilings, pitch pine panelling, shutters, original fireplaces and other features mark it out as house of distinction.

Within a week of hitting the market, there had been 40 requests for viewings, and the first three in the door to see it in the flesh all expressed a keen interest.

Demand is likely to pick up to such an extent that what started as a private treaty sale could well end up as a private auction, accepts Mr Shelly.

He floated the waterside house at a round 1 million, but this too could prove very conservative as "there is a lot of money in Waterford at the moment for exceptional houses." (if he could only shift it to Patrick Street or Grafton Street, he'd be only marginally busier.)

Accommodation currently includes porch, entrance hall with hand painted glass ceiling and pitch pine panelling, sitting room, drawing room, dining room with stunning panelled bow window, kitchen, four bedrooms one with an en suite and another has a cast iron fireplace, and there are some utility rooms and main bathroom. The converted mews has a sitting room, kitchenette and bedroom, plus bathroom, and is right by the water's edge.

Some of the land may have development potential, but it would be a shame to disturb its existing character, although there is scope for a house on one acre which could be neatly separated, said Mr Shelley.