Sizeable period home in blessedly prominent town centre location

DIRECTLY across the road from the impressive stone church in west Cork’s Clonakilty town, this sizeable Western Road corner house also dates from the same 1880s period.

The five-bed house is in blessedly prominent town centre setting, and its selling agent Henry O’Leary rightly bills it as a ‘substantial’ property — but adds that the guide price of €450,000 means it can now be considered by a far wider set of possible buyers than it would have seen a few short years ago.

It looks, in fact, like it might have been the presbytery for the church, but in fact the presbytery is right next door, again of similar vintage.

The Church of the Immaculate Conception, a French Gothic work in stone, is attributed to acclaimed church architect GC Ashlin, also responsible for Cobh Cathedral among his dozens of ecclesiastical designs: Clonakilty is considered to be one of the more pure of his designs, with work starting in 1870, and completing in 1880.

Fast forward almost 130 years, and building, or at least renovation work, might come around again on a more domestic scale on Western Road.

This house offering is an executor sale, and the building was part-home, part-doctor’s surgery. A family member has built a home in a portion of the back garden, but there’s still enough ground left over for the original dwelling to stand and breathe on, suggests Mr O’Leary, adding that it could also be used for car-parking for up to a dozen cars, if a new owner finds commercial use for the place.

With 2,700 sq ft of space it has five bedrooms, one bathroom, and up to four reception rooms, plus kitchen: one room was used as a surgery, another as a waiting room, and there’s also an attached side garage.

The house is in a very original state, not hugely interfered with over time and has lots of period features, such as high ceilings, quality marble fireplaces, scumble paint work on the woodwork, corniced ceilings etc.