Two St Patrick’s Hill houses offer convenient access to city centre

PATRICK’S HILL in Cork must be a great place to live, being so close to the city centre.

Half way up the hill and tucked behind Skerry’s College are a number of mews houses. Some are gleaming, some are shabby and some are screaming out for rescue.

Two of a row of three properties are about to go to auction with Maurice Cohalan of Cohalan Downing and Associates and they are going to have a strong attraction for owner occupiers.

The first, number 9A The Mews is a bit of a timepiece, but it’s a beauty. Strike out the heavy, mock-Tudor style and you have a townhouse that beats the suburbs hands down.

But even as is, the house is an unpredictable joy. Firstly, it has a garden and a side entrance.

This sheltered spot gets has a south-east orientation while the patio area to the front faces west.

This is set close to the front door and is part of a courtyard area formed by the kitchen extension to the left. First impressions are of a house that’s overwhelmed by it’s security shutters. The hand-wrought grilles, while pretty in their own right mar the full view of the property.

And it looks snug, so it’s hard to believe it has three bedrooms, two living rooms, a kitchen and two bathrooms.

The front door leads into the living room, which is a decent size and has a stone-faced fireplace with staircase rising against the back wall.

The stairs, built-in units and overhead beams are all in dark oak and the kitchen, while really well fitted is also a Seventies timepiece. However, it has two big, box bay windows which face south and west.

Up the stairs then, and turn right to the second living room and you go from the stygian darkness of the ground floor to the mellow yellow of pine. This apex high room is a fine size and has double doors with decked staircase to the garden, the window faces south making this a bright, airy room.

Next door is a slightly smaller room, used as an office, but it’s listed as a third bedroom with a bathroom adjacent.

Then, up another couple of steps are two more bedrooms, one of which is ensuite and a perfectly preserved, main bathroom. Both rooms have big dormers looking west. Heating is electric storage.

Next door is a more modern mews conversion and this is also part of the auction package. It has a modern, shaker maple kitchen that’s big enough to eat in and a living room on the opposite side of the central staircase.

Overhead are two double bedrooms and a smart bathroom and there is parking to the front.

Maurice Cohalan is guiding 9A at around €500,000 and gives a rough guide of €300,000 for 10A. The auction for both properties is scheduled for June 27.