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.

Standing on what must be at least a half-acre site on a dominant, elevated position on the Well Road, this seven-bedroomed property has views over the Douglas Estuary to the front, Grange and Donnybrook to the right and Skehard Road to the left.

And the price? Maurice Cohalan and Ted Healy of Cohalan Downing are inviting offers in excess of €500,000 for Manakin.

As a double-fronted house the layout includes two, south-facing reception rooms on either side of the main entrance hallway.

This has a lovely plaster archway, cornicing in good condition and 12' high ceilings.

In fact all the downstairs rooms have the same features, but the drawing room and sitting room both have impressive mahogany and cast iron fireplaces in superb condition.

The kitchen is off the sitting room and has a huge east-facing window. A conservatory added on to the west side would work wonders, where previously there was a green house.

A number of small rooms make up the rear ground floor and new owners would almost certainly look to amalgamating these spaces into a multi-aspected kitchen/diner. Access from here is given to a huge, tarmac yard, a rear garden with solid block wall and to a triple car-port on the eastern side of the house.

The staircase is in perfect condition and is painted white with mahogany hand rail: flowery wallpaper and patterned carpets are the look on the stairwell, but it's cosy and leads to a separate WC and bathroom on the half landing.

The main landing is closed off by a stud partition as the two overhead floors were sub-let, but no intrinsic damage to architraving or door frames has been caused.

One of the smallest of this floor's original five bedrooms has been converted to a bathroom and it's sandwiched between two double rooms, both with original fireplaces: there are two other bedrooms to the rear.

Overhead, the attic space runs to three rooms and again, these were used as a self-contained apartment, but would easily convert.

The views from this level are superb and the heat from the sun creates a warm space which would be ideal for teenagers.

All the doors, floors and plasterwork in the house are original and unlike other period properties in the same price bracket, it doesn't look like it has to be gutted.

As for the asking price, it's reasonable for the size of the house and the quality of the site.

After all, it's location, location, location.