Cover story: Clue is in the name — Bellvue, a high-class hideaway

Tommy Barker uncovers a setting that’s captivating, as much for the views, as for some of the best architecture.

Location: St Luke’s Cross, Cork

Price: €425,000

Size: 280 (3,000 sq ft)

Bedrooms: 5

Bathrooms: 2

BER rating: N/A

Best Feature: Period authenticity

A real, lived-in family home — that’s No 2, Bellvue, high above Cork city and even higher up than neighbourly hub St Luke’s Cross.

Just off Military Hill and near Collins Barracks, Bellvue Park is home to some very large private homes, but the place is rarely chanced upon by the city’s rank and file as it’s a cul de sac. Walk around, though, and the setting’s captivating, as much for the views out over the city, Lee and suburbs as for some of the best architecture of previous centuries.

The current owners, and now the vendors, of the 3,000 sq ft four-story home No 2 Bellvue Park have been in residence since just before the Millennium, 1998, and have worked conscientiously on it down the years ever since, tacking its roof, putting in Veluxes, installing central heating with some ornate wrought iron radiators, lining chimneys, and redoing the kitchen and the bathrooms as well.

It was all done with due regard for the architectural integrity and original rooms layout, says estate agent Andrew Moore who knows his St Luke’s Cross area homes very well; he guides this offer at €425,000.

It has all the hallmarks of having been a vibrantly lived-in home, well colonised by its family occupants, even down to having a surf-board as a part-time resident in a bathroom (beats a rubber duck?), a door covered in surfing stickers, a window bay ledge graced by hundreds of wine bottle corks, and a kitchen set up for some serious cooking, with every necessary utensil and condiment to hand, or hanging from the ceiling beams.

Quite clearly, any attempt at minimalism has successfully been squeezed out. It’s likely, however, that minimalism never got a look-in.

There’s a full-on southerly aspect at this tall terraced home, with bay window at its ground level giving an extra dimension to its front sitting room, one of two interlinked ground floor receptions, each with extravagantly-veined painted slate fireplaces.

This house’s occupants aren’t afraid of strong colours either, with rich crimson hues in much evidence and with elaborate ceiling plasterwork and central roses picked out or detailed in various shades, while some of the ornate rads are in warm golden metallic colours, even managing to looking warm when not in use.

Tall sash windows and even taller ceiling heights mean the principal rooms get flooded with light, and views get better floor by floor, with scope for up to six bedrooms thanks to its two upper levels plus attic, with two bathrooms on the stair return.

Mr Moore calls the setting a bit of an urban oasis, with St Luke’s Cross a five minute walk for shops, bars, butchers, bookies and cafes, and the city centre about ten minutes away, downhill, by foot. No 2 is right by the entrance to Bellvue, backing onto the road with a door leading to an enclosed rear yard and thence to the house itself. A side lane leads down by the side of No 1 to a graveled area for car parking, and this is where No 2’s main, front entrance steps up to this house are, screened by a small, mature front garden.

“This home will have an appeal to those who appreciate the finer aspects of comfortable city living,” says Andy Moore, noting it’s well-kept, spacious and secure, easily accessed and ready for immediate occupancy.

Once past the front door, the 27’ long hall has enough width (about 7’) to accommodate an upright piano, and floors here and in the front and back reception rooms are old, original pine, with c 11’ ceiling heights.

There’s also a family/dining room with arched brick outline of the space where a kitchen range would have been, some free-standing stripped pine cupboards and a 12’ by 9’ kitchen, with Belfast sink, tall tap, granite worktops, painted wood units, and a very accommodating plate rack handily up above the sink. Open, shallow shelving holds an amount of cooking necessity, right to hand — it seems a very ergonomic sort of space, with saucepans and colanders hanging from the ceiling like orbiting satellites, ready for domestic service.

Move up along, and the mid-floor returns are home to two bathrooms, each with baths, one also has a shower, and the other has a fireplace, an early type of towel warmer. The first floor proper is home to two bedrooms plus a study, and the next level again has three bedrooms, and there’s a sprinkling of fireplaces among this range of upstairs rooms. Those who don’t need all that number of bedrooms might consider using the first floor front room as a (with)drawing room, a bit like that seen in this slot last week in an Alexandra Place terraced similar era home and which had busy open viewings earlier this week among those keen on such a convenient setting around Bo-Ho St Luke’s Cross.

VERDICT: A period home with personality and joie de vivre.