Big house is just what the doctor ordered

THE scalpels will be out in force when the bidding starts on Firdoshi, a big and beguiling family home right on the back door of the Cork University Hospital.

With impeccable, but accidental timing, this five-bed home four doors away from the rear entrance to the CUH arrives on the property market in the spring selling season, just as a raft of medical consultant appointments are due to be taken up at the adjacent hospital. Even bookies will calculate the odds that it will be picked off by a medic, but other prospective buyers could give them a run for their money.

The ’30s-built detached house of 2,500 sq ft on Bishopstown Avenue is listed with Sheila O’Flynn and Ann O’Mahony of Sherry FitzGerald, who guide it at €1.4 million.

Firdoshi, named after the Islamic word for tranquility, was one of several homes built here by a family with Armenian links and, like many of its neighbours, it is on a garden site you just won’t get again within a cheque-book’s roar of the city and its established suburbs. It feels like a quarter acre, the rear has south and west aspect, and there are carefully kept grounds. How they look so well after a winter of water is a testament to the care they’ve received.

The current owners have been in this settled, unchanging western suburban setting by the back of Laburnum for 11 years, and they bought it when taking up another Cork hospital appointment, flying back from Aberdeen and agreeing to buy it after just 20 minutes’ viewing. Then its demanding surveyor couldn’t find anything to knock, gave it a clean bill of health and, after other ongoing improvements, it is as likely to sail straight through any tests.

Firdoshi, also known as no 28, has very spacious ground floor accommodation, four overhead bedrooms, plus a study or optional fifth bedroom. Both the main bathroom and master bedroom’s en suite have recently been upgraded, and the main bedroom also has a walk-in closet.

Most of the main reception rooms have a dual aspect and there is a timeless appeal to the decor, with a formal main drawing room to the right, featuring a solid limestone fireplace, cornice work and serving hatch to where the kitchen once was.

Off to the other side of the hall there are interlinked reception rooms with good antique pine style fireplaces, in place of the old kitchen is a den, study or music room, and beyond that again is the kitchen/breakfast room extension, single storeyed, with a utility room and WC.

There’s obvious scope to extend again on top of this bright room, or to the side, where a sun room might link back from the dining space to the family room.

The current kitchen, in ash and granite worktops, was built by Carrigaline-based David Kiely, who has cornered a fair share of the upper market in kitchens locally, mainly with imported quality brands, and this particular installation is everything that most cooks would need. The only decision might be to paint it or replace knobs for newer look.

Other than that, the vendors have had the cleaners, declutterers and decorators in this month in preparation for a swift sale.