It's a fine suburban home but don't talk about the war

Tommy Barker takes refuge in a sumptuous home with an air-raid shelter

BOMB-PROOF is a description sometimes used to describe robust, well-built homes which will stand the test of time. It applies several times over in the case of 12 Knockrea Park, a big and bounteous six-bedroom, three-storey semi-detached, which was built in 1930 with its very own air raid bomb shelter.

Now, a couple of stray World War II bombs did find their way onto Irish soil and the then owner of this house had some reason to be cautious. According to reports, he was a former British ambassador to India and feared such diplomatic connections might make him a target.

Sixty years on, the shelter is a compete oddity. It came to light when the current owners started to clear the overgrown back garden.

With the house up for sale for the first time in decades, it is most likely going to be use as a children’s play den, wine cellar or hot-tub base. Most of all, it will be a conversation piece.

Other than that, there will be plenty of chat among the more moneyed-classes about the arrival for sale of this of supreme family home, which has a southerly aspect in a handsome suburban setting.

It is at the back turned-leg end of cul-de sac Knockrea Park, off the Douglas Road, and within a 20-minute walk of Cork city centre — with schools, bus routes, public swimming pool and services all in the immediate locale.

With about 18 houses in all, and all bar two of them semi-detached, Knockrea is one of those addresses that carries cachet and clout, so the €1.3 million guide price via Savills Hamilton Osborne King isn’t going to deter strong viewing interest.

It is a ‘ready to move into’ proposition, with all the necessary improvements, and more importantly, it has been done with style and panache, on mature grounds, facing a large acre of overgrown wilderness which is unlikely to be developed unless all Knockrea residents agree.

Original early 1900s features like the hall tiles, picture rails and fireplaces remain intact; ceilings are high, proportions are good and plumbing is all up to spec.

There’s a ground floor guest loo, a master bedroom en suite with Vogue-branded sanitary ware, and a fine main family bathroom, with some of the old sanitary-ware kept for good measure, such as a Darney cast iron cistern and loo with old wood seat, and old cast iron bath.

There are two main, well proportioned and bright reception rooms to the front, with original hardwood fire surrounds and cast iron inserts. The living room has hand-crafted shelving either side of the chimney breast and, like the dining room alongside, it has the sanded and varnished original pine floors.

The dining room, painted a strong red for evening dining atmosphere, has a large covered radiator facing the fireplace, and an archway off to the re-fitted and reconfigured kitchen, with new cherrywood units, granite worktops and sleek splashback tiling.

There’s a rear hall and utility, with access to the private, walled-in back garden (some 60’x 54’, so over 3,000 sq ft of grassed area awaiting a landscaping thrust), with scope here or to the side for any future extensions.

There’s an open, airy staircase to the first floor’s four bedrooms and bathroom (though any buyers with young children might want to re-examine the spindle spacing as there’s a potential hazard here, something a bit of simple joinery could rectify). The master bedroom has new walnut built-ins on either side of the bed, matching the furniture, and space has been found for an en suite shower room while still leaving plenty of space in the room itself. One of the bedrooms is in use as an office and broadband in place for home working.

On the next, upper-most level are two really grand-sized attic bedrooms, full of character with sloping ceilings and dormer windows. In addition, there’s a handy store room up here — it was used previously as a photographic dark room.

In all, the house has about 2,200 sq ft of living space, with money clearly spent on essentials: drains have been done, windows are double glazed, heating is via gas, an alarm is fitted and decorative levels are high. It has privacy, parking, a great location and is a surefire seller. It will go a bomb.