Home of hidden beauty

ALTERATIONS to a house, as any auctioneer will tell you, can have a double-edged effect. Modernising a period property gives it an attraction only so long as that fashion is in vogue.

In the case of Manakin, a superb house on an elevated site on Cork's Well Road, the additions to the front facade have literally glossed over the original features, but they're still there. Just step through the stout teak porch and it's all before you a wide Edwardian door case with perfect stained glass.

Flanking the main doorway from bay to bay, the period features of the house have been degraded by this heavy teak addition, but if taken away the true face of the house would reappear like magic.