House of the week
The design, day one, was modestly up-market, at least seen through the prism of what followed during the Celtic Tiger era, when detached homes soared to sizes of between 3,000 and 4,000 sq ft and even larger, with more en-suites and plumbing than you could shake a bath brush or back-scrub at.
A handful of the bigger Paddocks homes did, indeed, top 3,000 sq ft in size, and boom-time sale prices went between €1m and €1.5m.
At the relatively more affordable end of the scale is No 15, a tall detached house with five bedrooms, comprised of an attic level with two bedrooms, with three at the middle level, one an en-suite master bedroom, plus a family bathroom with bath fitted with a shower — making for a standard three bathrooms.
The floor space is put at 1,950 sq ft, and at this size No 15 is marginally larger than others of this type in this scheme, which was designed by Roderick Hogan Associates, as the owner pushed the room sizes proportionally a bit more than standard when agreeing to buy it.
It comes to market for the first time since being built, via Brian Olden, of Cohalan Downing, who prices the house at €525,000, and who says it is very well-finished and “instantly appealing”.
Rooms include a main living room that is 19’ by 11’, long yet relatively slender, with bay window, pine floor and fireplace.
There’s also a dining room, 13’ by 8’ with wood floor, and off the kitchen is a 16’ by 11’ family room, with simple fireplace with gas insert, and patio doors to the rear garden.
Double doors link the family space to the tiled-floor kitchen, with lots of pale-hued timber units and two windows overlooking the back garden.
The gas boiler is in the utility off the kitchen, with side access to the gardens, where there’s a shed sited at the end of the private back garden, with nicely greened in boundaries.
No 15 has a short front garden, mostly given over to a gravel drive with enough space for a car or two to park off-street, and again boundaries in front are nicely verdant, with a couple of tall plants standing sentinel either side of the front door.
Also standing tall is the roof: these Paddocks house types have deep eaves and a high hat-pitch for a rather jaunty look, with small roof tiles and clay ridge ‘bonnet’ tiles used over the side roof.
Like the rest of the Paddocks houses, No 15 has a low-maintenance exterior, with a mix of dash and brick with small tiles dressing the front window bay between the ground floor and first floor pvc glazing.
VERDICT: a lot of bedrooms on offer here, in a well-regarded scheme within a few minutes walk of Douglas Fingerpost and the suburban village.
Location: Douglas, Cork
Price: €525,000
Size: 178 sq m (1,950 sq ft)
Bedrooms: 5
BER rating: Pending
Broadband: Yes
Best asset: Quality home in popular development
