Yum — best of goods come in small parcels
The owner of 14 Maiville is used to big dramas and large-scale productions — but her own home is a pitch-perfect silent retreat from the madding crowds.
Bought in a fairly raw state back in 2002, No 14 Maiville has had the full nine yards of makeover — yet still weighs in at a modest 700 sq ft, every one of them immaculate, and sparsely set-dressed.
All set to trade up a small ladder rung or two, a decade after a low-key restoration drama, is No 14’s owner Fin Flynn, who is company manager of Cork’s Corcadorca Theatre Company, which knows a thing or two about locations and creating atmosphere: Corcadorca has used places as diverse at Patrick’s Hill, Fitzgerald’s Park, Dunlops on the Marina, along with more regular venues for masterful, location-specific performances.
A small following act, No 14 Maiville’s location is southside suburban, squirrelled away in a safe cul de sac between the national schools (boys and girls come out to play) and the 1930s-built church of Christ the King, one of Cork’s modern architecture gems, broad and low-key in concrete, noted for its lack of pillars and plain aesthetic.
The church’s red tiled roof, angular spire and glazed apex ridge can be gleaned and enjoyed from the rear of No 14, where a small garden has been successfully fashioned, after a small number of houses here in the row managed to acquire a small bit of extra ground between them. It gives just enough for a private outdoor enclave, and there’s space here for sitting out, acting out, and storing some small props too in a blue, tabernacle-sized shed.
Around the front, No 14’s facade is beautiful cut limestone, shared with the west-facing terrace’s length, while similar-sized house on the facing side of Maiville are a contrast, in red-brick. There’s a real feel of house-proud owner-occupation among many of the homes here too, lot of tasty touches and polished brasses, and there’s a good share of car parking spaces.
Once inside No 14, all is calm, from the colours (pale, pale blues, lavenders and whites) and the removal of a dividing wall internally has really opened up the place, so that essentially, it’s one large living/dining space, with galley kitchen off, bathroom beyond.
Bricks removed from the partition wall have been reused as sentinel columns either side of the now-joined rooms, and alcove space for bookshelves is found here and there.
When doing the work here, Fin Flynn worked closely with the amenable and pro-active builder Ray Coveney, who had a few suggestions for getting extra light in, so now there’s a few tiny, scene-setting and scene-stealing windows in places where you mightn’t normally expect them. There’s not just one, but two window inserts over the stairwell, for example, a Velux, plus another one framing a tight view to the church. And, the really clever window addition is upstairs, in the front, main bedroom. Here, builder Ray broke through the ceiling to go up to the roof apex, and then arched over the adjoining bedroom for a Velux, so now this room has light streaming in from east and west, without in any way impinging on the room under its crook. The house’s age is recalled up here also by one timber ceiling beam left exposed and polished.
Other natural materials used include the brick columns downstairs, solid maple flooring, varnished ply in the kitchen cabinetry, and pine on the open tread stairs, set on steel, while the main living space is warmed by an open fireplace, with dark polished wood surround.
Selling agent for No 14 is Jeremy Murphy, who seeks offers around €145,000 and who extols its quality, quirks and setting within a short walk to the city centre. It is, he says, one of those “best goods, in small parcels” sort of homes.
Turner’s Cross, Cork City
€145,000
Sq m 64 (700 sq ft)
2
1
F
No dramas
Corcadorca’s next play, by Pat McCabe, is called The Big Yum Yum — No 14’s an entree-level equivalent.
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