Minimalist approach makes this a class act
A West Cork textbook example of how to convert buildings from one use to an entirely different purpose, it deliberately avoids a sentimental reworking of the old school theme.
Instead, the approach is cool minimalism, and the interior has a crisp functionality and a living area that could as easily be a Manhattan loft apartment. Furniture classics here, like a Le Corbusier chaise longue and Vassily chairs, add to the international feel.
Except, of course, the location it is grounded in gives this class act an entirely local flavour.
Anyone looking for a distinctive and individual home within an hour of Cork city will be charmed by this conversion, says auctioneer Cal McCarthy of South Western Property Services.
Guide price for the 2,000 sq ft house, with clear scope for extending, is €295,000, about the price of a suburban semi-detached.
Set at Lisbealad, near Dunmanway and Drinagh in inland West Cork, it has scenic Curraghlickey Lake as a nearby amenity and attraction, while the view to the rear takes in gently rolling hills. These are topped by seven giant whirring windmills, a grant-aided private enterprise that shows the way the winds of energy production are blowing.
The school itself dates back to the early 1960s. It had regular roll calls of 80 pupils for and ended its school days 30 years, and ended its school days in the early 1990s.
It was bought by a couple from the UK, Bernard Donovan and Deirdre Welsh, who knew exactly what they were getting and what they wanted to do with it.
Bernard had worked in the family building business in England, and in the course of his work had done residential and commercial projects with some of the UK's best architects, including Sir Michael and Patty Hopkins, Chris Williamson and Jim Ayers and Peter Romenuk.
"This is a very solid and simple building, very well built, done almost in the international style, symmetrical and with porthole windows to the side, giving a 'liner look to the back," Bernard says.
Interested in minimalist style interiors, they loved the fact the building "had no fripperies."
The former school is on 1.2 acres of grounds which have been extensively planted with over 100 trees. there's also a productive polytunnel, and lots of hard surfaces left over from playground days a ready-made patio ring-a-rosy.
Apart from the main building, the school-yard buildings behind have multi-purpose uses, currently used as a workshop and stores. There's even a 25' high water tower, with ground floor room of 8' square and the same size room up on top as a hidden eyrie.
The main section of the house, formerly two class rooms, is now one large 40' by 20' open plan living room, with a central fireplace as a part-divide and opening to two halves of the space.
Six large plain 8' by 4' windows flood the room with light; walls are white; large house plants (fig trees, mimosa and banana plants) provide a burst of greenery, and the original re-laid pine floor keeps it all simple and unfussy.
Bernard built the spread of fitted kitchen (he also did the masses of built-in wardrobes) and local steel worker Don Lordan did the stainless steel tops and other steel work in the home, including door saddles.
This striking modern home has about 2,000 sq ft of space, but also an untapped loft area with 12' of ceiling space.
Behind the main class block/living space runs a long corridor, looking out over the back garden, and with three bedrooms ranged off it, the master suite and one end, the other two by the entrance end.
The guest bathroom is laid out as a wet room, with tiled floor and walls, ideal for hosing down the couple's two large dogs.
The entire rear section of the house has the original green tiles throughout as a floor finish again keeping the colour palette simple.
If new owners feel there's a surfeit of these tiles, well, rugs will be the soft option.
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