High life above the city

Tommy Barker reports on Georgian elegance in old city quarter

SERIOUS contemporary art on the walls, a mix of modern and period features in the decor, a southerly aspect, proximity to the city centre, views, and a funky elevated deck designed by architect Tom De Paor as he worked on a Cork Sculpture Factory commission. These are just some of the attributes of 3 Wellington Terrace, off Grattan Hill, just east of the city and rail station.

The elevated, early 1800s home has been occupied for the past 16 years by a woman who moved to Cork’s art scene from Dublin, and was part of a migratory trend (still on-going) which saw the Grattan Hill area come back from heartless flatland to ‘Left Bank’-like owner-occupation and family friendliness.

No 3, an end-of terrace three storey house, is for sale with Michael O’Donovan of Sherry FitzGerald’s Cork city offices, who guides it at €495,000, and who reckons it will be bought and appreciated as a family home again.

It was in three flats 16 years ago, but the full-make over has seen the 1,500 sq ft late Georgian house regentrified, with a modern twist, overseen by architect John Hegarty, with assured building work by Michael Hanrahan and carpentry by Tom O’Sullivan, who made the kitchen and the dressing room/landing wall of built-in wardrobes.

Wellington Terrace is a short cul de sac dog-leg row at the start of straggling, sandstone ridge-clinging Grattan Hill, beloved of Thackery who wrote lovingly two centuries ago about the vista, aspect, river views and genteel shabbiness and local gayety. All of which it still enjoys, by the way.

You see the view and span the vista from all of the front rooms in No 3, but no spot is more effective than from the end of the vertiginous rear garden, with tiers upon tiers, ending in a red sandstone wall which forms a boundary with the old Arbutus Hotel Montenotte property behind.

Access is out from the back of the house via an elevated deck, steel-framed and designed by Dublin architect Tom De Paor who is a friend of the vendor.

That high deck gives seating areas off the upper floor, while 20’ bamboos shoot up to here from the rear yard at ground level. Surveying the tops of the bamboo is strangely redolent of a scene from the Chinese movie Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon, while a peculiar cage-like structure under the decks has scope for conversion to an extra room, storage.

There’s off-street parking to the front, still considered vital in a city suburban setting despite proximity to town, and is seen as a real sale under-pinner. There’s a short burst of steps to the front door, leading to a hall with old floor boards.

To the left, through twin slick glazed hardwood doors, is a reception room, with open, unadorned fireplace (gas on tap) and behind is a lofty kitchen area, with tall, tall built-ins, all in white, as is the sink area and worktops, while floors are in a dark cherry, with a matching wood dining table. Off to the back is a guest WC, with novel tiled shower/angled bath, all tiled, very Japanese, while under the hall stairs is a utility space.

The first floor return has a door leading to the under-deck and the first floor proper has a drawing room or bedroom to the front, with old fireplace and period features, another bedroom to the side also has southerly views, and there’s a room-sized vestibule/dressing room, and bathroom behind.

The top floor has two inter-connected rooms, the further in one is an en suite bedroom, so the outer room can be used as a dressing room, study, or child’s room.

Last week, the equally attractive but decoratively different No 1 Wellington Terrace went up for sale in these pages, guiding €490,000 via F&V Sheahan. No 3 Wellington Terrace, with Sherry FitzGerald, is also just that little bit different with scope for even further changes, or it can just be bought, taken and savoured for its Grattan Hill glories.