Period package packs a punch in city centre

NUMBER 3 Newenham Terrace is in the same state as it was when built, in the 19th century.

And a visit feels like the kind of secret exploration undertaken as a child — scary, but magical too.

Dimly lit, dust covered and with a palette running the gamut from brown to brown, this terraced three-storey is a Dickensian relic.

But one with four parking spaces in the heart of Cork city at Infirmary Road and a west-facing garden with mews entrance.

Yes, it is overgrown, (two men and a chainsaw over two days), but the garden has its own private stone wall boundary separating it from its neighbour, the only two gardens left in the row.

A little bit creepy, because of its abandonment, no 3 is nevertheless a fairly sound house on a cursory inspection. Yes, there’s a bit of dry rot in some of the floorboards, (but just under a leak in the roof), and there is dampness on one wall, but again, that’s down to a leaky gutter.

Despite this, it has huge potential because of the package it offers: size, period features, parking and a garden in the centre of the city. When can you get all these together? Rarely.

And no 3 is all the better for not being interfered with — it’s an utterly blank canvas for the brave heart that will take on its renovation. It truly is a Grand Design in the making.

The row in which it’s placed is a little down at heel in parts and this may put off the gentrifying buyer. Next door was fully modernised and lived in by a family but was sold at auction earlier this year for €640,000.

This time round, the same firm, Cohalan Downing, are looking for offers in the region of €500,000 for no 3. The price difference would go some way to a restoration for an ambitious buyer betting on a rise in values.

That being said, developer, Joe O’Donovan, who controls the Wilton Shopping Centre and Capitol Cinema, amongst others, has bought up a lot of properties on the row and his ultimate plans are unknown.

It’s an indication of the value of the city centre location, (facing The Victoria and City General Hospitals), the associated parking and potential at the rear.

Canny buyers will see development in the mews and the opportunity to carve up the old house into apartments.

Then there’s the other option, restore the whole building, add a light-filled extension at the back to create a gracious, four-bed townhouse.

As it stands now, there are five bedrooms over two floors with a full-length drawing room at first floor level and a kitchen, living room and scullery on the ground floor.