Buyers will have designs on Rochestown residence

IN theatre, when a show is over, the set is ‘struck’ — dismantled and carted off, with the stage being set for the next production.

Will the same ‘strike’ removal and reinvention happen to the private home of the late and acclaimed set designer, Patrick Murray?

Theatre designer Pat Murray died in December 2006, and over a long career worked with some of the great operatic and theatrical shows in Cork’s Opera House and Everyman Palace.

In addition, he had international commissions, and his breath of experience also spanned membership of the Arts Council, design consultation for the 1985 Cork 800 celebrations, and more recently he designed a special stamp for Cork’s City of Culture reign in 2005.

Mr Murray’s own Cork home for many years was 5, the Firs, a bungalow just off the Rochestown Road and south ring road opposite the Ovals development.

This is on a stretch of road where small cottages and houses are being bulldozed for replacement by high-quality, high-end and expensive new one-offs, even if many are on postage stamp-sized sites.

No 5 The Firs is different already, then, because it is on a site of one third of an acre, which is private, and perfect for an up-market luxurious home.

The property is for sale via Savills HOK, who seek €850,000, a price which reflects the site location and size more than the quality of the three-bed house, which currently measures about 1,250 sq ft.

Apart from the option of knocking and rebuilding, No 5 could be renovated and extended without too much drama: Act 11, anyone?