On the home stretch

FIRST off, Ber Pey has missed her September deadline – the interior designer’s grand project at 3 Newenham Terrace was set to be rolled out by now but building being building, there’s a delay.

It now looks like her townhouse/showroom project will open its doors at the beginning of November.

And she’s come a long way in a short time: in a month where the country dragged itself into winter, haltered by bad debt and worse news, her ambitious project continues - and hang the expense.

No 3 Newenham Terrace was a creaking Georgian four-storey in the flat of Cork city when she first set eyes on it and it was in early March of this year that the designer began its transformation.

Taking a chance on the house and the location, Ber Pey has ploughed through a complete overhaul of th No 3, taking in roofing, wiring, insulating, tanking, replastering, refenestration and more, while preserving the integrity of the fine old townhouse.

The renovation is nearly there, but builders’ holidays and a change of mind with the kitchen has held up the final push.

But no matter, because work is going on outdoors instead – and while painters fill, sand and bond the interior walls, Pey’s transformative energy is now concentrated on the garden.

And garden designer, John Butler is creating a completely contemporary look out the back.

The one really lovely thing about No 3 is its garden – it’s quite an anomaly in the middle of this city and along with next door (whose apple tree is drippin’ with fruit) it’s a counterpoint to the large, institutional buildings all around.

Now if Pey were cute, she’d have created an apartment/mews building here that would have maximised on her investment, but she hasn’t. Instead, she’s adding something 21st century to a house that has been restored almost faithfully to the original.

The garden is halfway there and Butler’s team are all over it like ants on a crisp late September morning.

The major change is a 4’ wide and 6’ high wall three-quarters of the way down the garden with a wide stainless steel spout, in letter-box style, which will create a flow of water to a limestone trough below. Behind, the effect creates a hidden space for wheelie bins and washing lines, while obscuring the view of the inner garden from passers-by – clever.

The old rubble limestone walls have been brushed and cleaned and topped with a couple of courses of smooth plastered blocks which will be painted a putty colour, says Pey.

The rear walls will be lined in cedar, with cedar decking in the central space. The 8’ by 6’ shallow pit that is in the process of being created, will be lined with stainless steel, floored with a mix of steel and cedar decking and will provide a secluded lying-out area, or, as Pey suggests, the perfect place for a Christmas tree. And the fossilised limestone trim will double as a seating area, says Butler, who’s also building a limestone patio space closer to the house. This garden is certainly not going to be standard, but then, looking from the first and second floor rooms, it’s going to sit quite well with the extraordinary architecture of St John’s College behind, a hidden gem that not enough people see.

An Open House day, as they do in Dublin and Galway, is needed in Cork where the plain people can walk around new civic buildings, commercial and residential projects including extensions and renovations, and see what our architects and designers can achieve.

Newenham Terrace is just one of a number of interesting projects throughout the city, but unlike the others, this is getting attention.