Sparkler with a harbour view

Tommy Barker visits a stylish dormer with a great view.

UP from one storey to two, and well-done to boot across its 2,000 sq ft is Dun na Sead. It’s owned by a quantity surveyor and the name of this house in Crosshaven, Co Cork, translates as ‘the Fort of the Jewels’.

Originally built back in 1981 as a bungalow, it has been transformed onwards and upwards since. The main upgrade was done in 1991, the year the Tall Ships Race came to Cork and when the billowing sails and many masts could be glimpsed from this property.

Now dormer in shape, and on a quarter-acre site, it has four bedrooms and high-quality living and circulation space, with a dramatic double height entrance hallway, topped off by a lofty apex roof window.

It is a home of two facades, but the apex window design also features to the rear, and lifts the house out of the standard design realm.

Dun na Sead is on the market with Michael McKenna of McKenna O’Donoghue Clarke Real Estate Alliance, who guides it at €800,000, and he notes its proximity to scheme of a dozen or so bungalows built in Crosshaven in the 1990s by O’Flynn Construction before their Brightwater development mushroomed in the harbourside community.

Internally, there’s a 17’ by 8’ hall, with pale ceramic floor and that extra head height, a guest WC, and the lounge is 23’ by 19’ and there’s a separate living room, with fireplaces in each of these reception rooms.

The kitchen has dining space, the units have granite worktops and there’s a study plus utility room. Overhead, three of the four bedrooms have built-ins, the master bedroom is en suite and there’s also a main family bathroom. Heating is via gas, and there’s a garage for the car, or, more likely, the boat, given the marinas just down the hill.