Victorian end-of-terrace within walking distance of the city centre

AN autumn market arrival, well-viewed, but yet to get to what’s reckoned to be its value at its €560,000 asking price, is 1, Knocklaun, in Cork’s St Luke’s Cross.

The Victorian home has been owner-occupied for 30 years, during which time there have been steady improvements, and the terrace just above the main Ballyhooley Road is also primarily owner-occupied, says Grace McGlynn of Property Choice auctioneers.

Being end, or more correctly start, of terrace means No 21 has side access to its stepped rear garden, and this terrace at Knocklaun has secondary access to these back gardens from the foot of Gardiner’s Hill.

As it is elevated above the road, car-parking options are beneath the terrace/house, on the public road, with residents’ permit. The house is “located in one of Cork’s best suburbs, within walking distance of the city centre,” says Ms McGlynn, adding that visitors have been more than pleasantly surprised at the standard of this four-bed home.

Lots of the period features are intact or enhanced, the original sash windows are in situ, there’s a stained glass panel in the kitchen door, there are decorative ceilings and plasterwork, original fireplaces and more.

The kitchen to the back has an old Stanley stove, likely to be kept as a feature in new ownership, although the likelihood, too, is that new owners will spend on a more modern kitchen than the current told-fashioned one.

The front living room has a deep bay window, slate fireplace and picture rail plus corniced ceiling, the dining room beyond also has a fine original fireplace, and the kitchen is a long, narrow galley affair with rear garden access.

The first floor return is ‘plumbing central,’ with a bathroom and separate WC, and the main bedroom is to the front of the house, a large size at 19’ wide and 16’ deep, with the same generous bay window and sashes as the main living room.

There’s a second bedroom behind, also with fireplace, and overhead at floor two are two bedoooms, one with two slender arched sash windows, the other behind with a Velux.

Values have stepped up quite strongly in St Lukes during 2006, expect interest on this to mount, with stronger bidding to follow.