Victorian harbour home has perfect overhaul

Tommy Barker visits a period property that’s been meticulously restored.

ALL of the hard work has been done, and handsomely and correctly so, at 3 Belgrave Place, overlooking the cross-river ferry in Cork harbour’s Glenbrook.

The lofty, terraced Victorian period harbourside home has been meticulously restored, from stem to stern, top to bottom, inside and out, and is a new market arrival with estate agent Noelle Morrison Properties.

She notes that, quite unusually, the entire terrace of four houses has been upgraded in the past few years by their respective owners, and the house next door is getting a second, expensive overhaul after being sold a year ago for around €650,000.

Look out to the tiered back gardens and you see work on-going in the steps and levels, with a hot tub going into one.

The only spending needed on No 3, which is for sale with a €790,000-plus guide, is down to choice of final superficial finishes, maybe a change of colour, perhaps a couple of discretionary coats of gloss paint, varnish or wax on salvaged original pine features. Other than that, just move on in.

No 3, well-elevated above the road through Glenbrook to Monkstown, is an accommodating 2,200 sq ft on three full levels, plus attic conversion with Veluxes front and back. As part of the renovation (re-roofing, rewiring, re-plumbing, decoration, insulation, new floors, fireplace and joinery conservation, etc.), the front garden had a section scooped out to allow for off-street parking for two cars, plus a discreet bin store, and the new replacement steps are graced by assorted planting and ornate cast iron railings which had a railway-use past.

Through the solid wood entrance door and past the porcelain-tiled hall with underfloor heating there are two interconnected ground floor reception rooms, linked by original sliding pine doors (which slide into the wall.)

Stretching right across the first floor is the very best room of all at the poshly-titled No 3 Belgrave Place, a full-width room, 20’ by 13’, with three French door-style windows freeing up the views, and there’s access through the middle one to the cast iron balcony, an original architectural detail, and one shared by the neighbouring houses too. It gives views up and down the river, to the beetling Cross River ferry, and the Cork-Cobh rail line, and you could quite happily pass a few sunny hours away here.

This light-flooded room can be the formal drawing room, or it could be a master bedroom, and it has probably the very finest of a fine selection of period fireplaces, in white marble. The ceiling has an ornate rose, and cornice work, and the pine architraves have been painstakingly reinstated, as has all the timber joinery on every level.

While there’s been immense attention to keeping the period trimmings, it hasn’t been at the expense of creature comforts. There’s central heating, newly installed with oil as the fuel, but there’s an option now of gas, the hall’s heat cosily comes from under the creamy tiles, and there’s a quality bathroom with shower on each of the three main floors, thanks to the rear annexe. The main bathroom is a luxurious, quirky room mixing salvaged items with powerful plumbing.

The kitchen, with units craftily made up of salvaged period furniture and topped with gray granite, is to the rear at ground level with access to an enclosed rear yard with a mosaic tile feature of a mermaid on the ground. Estate agent Ms Morrison says some prospective buyers may look at roofing over this space and linking the kitchen back to the rear reception room.

The return/annexe overhead has that main bathroom and a very large plumbed utility/laundry room, with access up to the tiered garden. The access door has fine coloured glazing, and stained glass panels have been cleverly inserted in other walls as a design feature.

The house, with up to four bedrooms, plus sunny top level study with exposed joists, was done as a labour of love by an individual with an eclectic and collector’s eye.

“There’s a lot of people out there who will appreciate a period house such as this, so close to Cork city, with ever-changing harbour views. There’s golf, sailing, schools and services all locally and the fact all of the work has been done to it is a real bonus for the next owners,” says Noelle Morrison.