Plenty of potential and great views from Charlemont Heights

SWIRLS of white with a terracotta topping — that’s the first impression of Charlemont Heights.

The second is the rather commanding position this estate holds above the Rochestown road, one of the more sought-after addresses in south Cork.

Built in the 1980s by Welsh developer Len Dovey, Charlemont houses aren’t just stand alone, they’re stand-out too. The style and finish doesn’t come from the normally sombre Irish pattern book, and the terracotta tiling is very much an English style, although more common nowadays.

Back then these houses were in the vanguard of the upwardly mobile move to the lower reaches of the Rochestown Road.

Len Dovey developed 17 units on the gardens of the former Charlemont House, an early Georgian property facing the estuary.

The Charlemont Heights scheme has matured nicely — and there’s even a touch of Wisteria Grove about this leafy enclave today. It’s safe, too, with wide green banks on two sides of a quiet cul-de-sac.

The high perch of the first row of houses ensure that nothing in the estate passes unseen and those on the lower level have wide, watery views over the inner harbour.

No 16, the developer’s own house, is now up for sale with agent Marian Rose of Rose Properties. She sold the houses first time round and is now looking for offers in the region of €825,000 for the four-bed, detached house.

That’s less than 2006 levels, but from Ms Rose’s perspective the rise is still huge in comparison to what the houses cost in the mid-eighties.

Considering it’s only in use on a part-time basis, no 16 Charlemont Heights is a fine, warm house, if a little dated. Some investment will be needed to bring it up to today’s standards, but it does come with just under 2,000 square feet of space and an attached garage.

It has a large kitchen/diner at the rear, with direct access to a formal dining room and family room. The sitting room runs from back to front, and like the rest of the house is a bright room with superb views.

Overhead, there are four good bedrooms, with en suite master and a main bathroom, plus a guest bathroom off the square hallway.

There is great potential here to create a contemporary family home in a safe, solid environment.

With the garage and the attic, the development could happen within the existing footprint, or an extension would add another dimension.