The lady in red graciously awaits some old-fashioned wooing

SUNDAY’S Well’s slightly down at heel ‘lady in red’ is ready for wooing.

One of the most distinctively — and, arguably, best — sited private homes in Cork is Lisheen, 72 Sunday’s Well, at the water’s edge opposite the Mardyke sports grounds. It’s an amalgam of two different houses, physically linked but separated by up to a century in origin.

Brightly painted in garish lipstick-red, the beguiling 1800s and 1900s house, with more than 150’ river frontage along its gardens, sets a view marker from Wellington Bridge through Sunday’s Well to St Vincent’s church.

No 72 bookends a long row of private homes between the Shaky Bridge/Daly’s Bridge and Wellington Bridge, and can trade both on its ‘location, location, location’ privilege as well as on its detached status, with its river frontage the icing on top of this confection.

It is a new market arrival with estate agents Andrew Moore & Co, who are to offer it by auction.

A guide won’t be issued until a date is set, but expect it to sell at the upper end of the €1.5 million/€2 million price bracket.

This likelihood is supported by its site, size, off-street parking and waterside setting than by the house’s current condition.

Yet this place does have charm, and period detailing in abundance, with a couple of very fine reception rooms, one with a vaulted or barrel ceiling, and there’s about 4,000 sq ft of space — with three principal reception rooms, two kitchens, work rooms and up to five bedrooms with several disjointed bathrooms.

That calculation doesn’t take into account the considerable semi-basement space under one of the houses, the older and more formal structure on the western/southern section of the mix.

This lower ground area, which appears dry and water-tight despite possibly dipping below the level of the nearby River Lee, has three rooms and a wide hall, with internal and external access points.

“The merits of period property in Cork have always been underrated, but, thankfully, this is now changing,” says Andy Moore.

“Show me a better riverfront site, with such a unique period property on it, and I’ll take my hat off to you.”

He confirms that there’s already pre-market interest in Lisheen.

Other waterfront properties in the Sunday’s Well area range in value from €750,000 to a likelihood of €5 million or more for the very best, in pristine condition.

Also on the market with Mr Moore is Ferncliff, a detached house on a large site with some development scope nearer to the city at Sunday’s Well Avenue, which has a guide of €850,000-plus.