Woodfield a quality build

BUILT to last — the genuine, solid build quality of Shanakiel’s Woodfield (called after the birthplace of Michael Collins) shines through, inside and out.

There’s not a splinter of hairline crack in the front dash across this five-bed 1950s-built home’s front facade. The quality, detached 2,300 sq ft home has only changed hands a few times and is now publicly up for sale after a few weeks of quiet, appreciative viewings.

Designed by architect B O’Flynn to what were then the highest of standards and specification in the post-war period, Woodfeld was built for its first owner Michael Powell, who was a descendant of Michael Collins’ Clonakilty clan. (Following Collins’ assassination in 1922, his body was removed to Shanakiel Hospital for examination — now, a Woodfield has come almost to the private hospital’s doorstep.)

The current owners, with UCC links, came to Woodfield around 1990, and with family reared and a move to Waterford beckoning, Shanakiel’s lofty Woodfield is offered via Malcolm Tyrrell of Cohalan Downing, on a half acre of perfectly pitched gardens, at €725,000.

It’s a bit on the dated side, but decently so, and has never been mucked around with, keeping huge integrity and respect for things like stained glass windows. The current owners rightly moved the kitchen from a back room towards the front, and maybe now a new owner will extend this space back again, for a larger front-to-back flow of family/dining/cooking and utility, feeding back into (or out of) a pantry, with access then to a sheltered courtyard by the detached garage.

The more formal and symmetrical facade is the garden and south-facing aspect by the deep terrace, but the entry point is to the back (or, is it the front?) as you come in from the cul-de-sac Shankiel road, just above Cork’s Sunday’s Well.

This puts it within an easy, breezy walk of the city centre, and of UCC and the Bon Secours, and its half acre is wholly private, especially its sunniest quarters, stepping down in tiers from the house into encroaching greenery.

Layout is thoroughly modern, with the prime living areas in the warmest, sunniest spots, and service rooms/corridors behind.

Thus, the three biggest of the five bedrooms have full-south facing views, over the Mardyke to UCC, east to the city and harbour, west to County Hall and beyond. Anyone who doesn’t need five beds can knock into a back bedroom for an en suite, and the main bathroom’s already a good size, with separate bath and green-tiled shower cubicle. The first floor WC is a separate entity, so less queuing.

Downstairs, there are two fine reception rooms (one a 16’ by 16’ lounge with bay window, the other a dining room with patio/terrace access) with original brick fireplaces, and ceiling heights everywhere are high. The east-end kitchen/breakfast room also has a bay window and garden access: a new owner might be tempted to put a heat-soaking sun-room to the front, across the middle or off one of the gables, thought doing it whilst keeping respect for the symmetry will be the concern.

Woodfield has great location, great site and aspect, good bones and features — careful ministry wanted.