Belair extension adds to its appeal

PRETTIER at the front than the back, No 14 Belair is a big four bed semi with a bit extra up on top.

The 1960s house was added to quite considerably, about 10 years ago, with two attic bedrooms put up under and into the roof, along with a shower room.

With proper staircase access to this top deck, it swells the house’s size from around 1,600 sq ft to over 1,900 sq ft, reckons estate agent Timothy Sullivan, who is now charged with its sale. He seeks offers around €575,000.

Location is up on the left hand side of Belair, which is just off the main Douglas Road in Cork city, a few hundred yards from St Finbarr’s Hospital, and there’s a locational bonus to this, being a short-enough walk to the city centre, with car accessibility to many points via the Boreenmanna Road and the south ring network.

Despite the work done on the attic, the house beneath will probably need a bit more investment to bring it bang up to date, starting with the kitchen which has what Mr Sullivan discretely calls ‘older style’ units.

Othewise, the ground level has two reception rooms, each with fireplaces, and off the hall is a guest WC/cloakroom.

Up overhead, there are four bedrooms, two are doubles, the third at 11’ by 9’ is borderline, and the fourth is smaller again, but heck, space had to come from somewhere for landing staircase. The bathroom is three-piece, and the attic level has a shower room, so in effect there’s a loo on each of the three levels.

The side garage is attached, so there’s conversion and link-in potential, and there’s plenty of west-facing back garden space left for a lean-to conservatory/sun-room kitchen extension.