Tome sweet tome by the Lee

BOOKS come out the door to meet you at No2 Carrigfern — literally. Even the side entrance porch here is shelved for book storage, and every room is similarly laden, with volumes tightly racked in serried ranks, shoulder to shoulder, spine to spine.

This Edwardian era Cork city home is at the doorstep of UCC, opposite the Bon Secours hospital on College Road, and its owners for the last 30 years have had strong, noted service with the university, including a stint as vice president.

No 2 Carrigfern has been home to historian, writer, and former Senator, Professor Joe Lee, his wife Ann Lee and their family.

A prestigious professorial post in America as director of Glucksman Ireland House and the Irish Studies Programme at NYU means the house’s capacity (and its award-wining gardens) isn’t being used right now — hence a rather reluctant leave-taking. But, what a house for someone else to aspire to come home to.

Decades of minding underpin the original quality and feel of this c 1915-built three-storey beauty with its hints of elegant but understated Arts and Crafts design.

Everything here has been tended — including the surprise of a hidden woodland garden behind — by its current (and, presumably, previous) owners and the home’s presentation is pristine, polished, scrubbed and scented, with a clear air of comfort, and daily use and appreciation.

This is period home living made easy, for a wide range of buyers, and the beguiling, tranquil garden behind means there’s no real sacrifice of quiet space being made for quite such a central setting.

The location for families is ace, within a walk of good schools and colleges and the city centre or suburban shops, as well as the five-star Hayfield Manor hotel, and the Brookfield leisure centre with its 25-metre pool. The selection of hospitals (Bons, Mercy, CUH, plus private clinics) all within a walk means medics may well be in the hunt.

Might an institution emerge with a buying interest also?

With around 3,000 sq ft of space, five bedrooms and several study and sunny niches, No 2 is a quietly accommodating house, sprinkled with art and laden with books, thanks to its three levels — or five, including stair returns.

Positioning it for a spring sale, and guiding it at €850,000, estate agent Brian Olden of Cohalan Downing describes it as “exceptional,” and it does indeed deserve the accolade.

All is understated and quite serene, really, the front drawing room is elegance personified, with a graceful tall bay window (original timber sashes too,) wide enough to take a two-seat sofa and flanking side tables, and the architectural detailing is well-tended, with white gloss window case, white marble fireplace, ceiling cornicing and picture rail.

At 17’ by 16’ it and the identically-proportioned overhead main bedroom are the largest rooms in capacious Carrigfern. Also at this house’s ground floor are a rear sitting room opening to a south-facing sun-room with glazed roof and garden access, while the kitchen directly to the rear of the wide, original tiled hall is country in style, with old Aga, varnished pine panelled ceiling, all warm and homely.

Directly behind the kitchen is a breakfast/family dining room with an artfully-placed 8’ wide window placed high up, which gives a bird’s eye (more like a giant fish tank) view of the immaculate garden stepping up directly outside.

A large utility/laundry room (another dining or family room if needed,) leads in one direction to the gardens, and out the other there’s access to a side entrance passage and the garage.

This area has a guest WC, and while the house hasn’t any en suite bathrooms, there’s a good sized family bathroom on each of the two stair return levels, each with a proper bath, each room spotless. Polished and varnished floorboards in many rooms show the longevity of simple materials like pine, when cared for. At 95 years of age, this place gives every indication of being around for a few more centuries.

Outside, lofty-looking No 2 Carrigfern with its dash and lower skirts red brick exterior is every bit as good as its inside, and its front garden, shielded by an old willow tree from the road, has off-street parking right up to the rear-positioned garage.

Behind is the real revelation, a garden which runs in a dog-leg section about 180’ across, not only the back of No 2, but also three or four more neighbouring houses as a private ‘land-grabbing’ bonus, more than long enough for tennis court but too narrow. for one in truth. Lawn bowls? Croquet? Allotment gardening, and fresh veg and flowers at the turn of a spade?

As a visual anchor, a sequence of low, Liscannor stone steps (done by Birch Hill Landscaping) circle around a small central lawn, and planting is a sympathetic mix of raised beds, mature trees including cherry trees, and shrubs. Abundant bird life, too, despite the owners’ cat.