Victorian on the double

A PAIR of very large, formerly grand Victorian semi-detached houses on 1.4 acres at Cork’s Montenotte are for sale after the company that had planned to develop them for a private secondary school got into difficulties.

Now structurally sound, but essentially shells inside, the property pair called Parkville House is offered for sale for a receiver, via Catherine McAuliffe of Savills’s Cork offices. She guides the lot at €650,000.

It now runs to a sizeable 9,000 sq ft, with three floors of space above a fronting apron of semi-basement space, with the curving top serving as a terrace.

The house’s original architectural style is billed as Italianate, and it is one of a number of exceptionally large building in the aloof and lofty Montenotte suburbs (two kms from Cork city centre), many of which are now in institutional use. Nearby is Cope Foundation, and Parkville adjoins the former offices of the CIF (now in East Gate) in Cork.

The site is well defined, and just below the Middle Glanmire Road, south-facing with a sweep of city and Marina views. It is zoned as part of a belt of high landscape value, and Savills say it is suitable for educational/commercial/residential use, subject to planning constraints.

“While much of the structural work has been carried out, the building requires substantial works internally to restore it to its original splendour,” they add. The site’s southern, lower section may have some other development potentail.

Meanwhile, Savills say there’s current interest in another large Cork offering they have on the hills facing Cork and the River Lee: they put the 1790s Lotamore House in Tivoli on 14 acres up for sale last summer, guiding €1.3m. Linked to a number of prominent families, as well as being as one-time office of the Irish Sweepstakes, Lotamore has about 10,000 sq ft of space and current interest is being shown at about the €750,000 mark.

* Details: Savills 021-4271371