Montenotte’s crowning glory above the city

Montenotte, Cork €635,000

WHAT a difference seven years makes -and Crown Park Villas is re-born to tell tales of those times.

Back in 2007, a tired, 100-year old Cork city Montenotte home of that name (with exceptional city views) came for sale with auctioneer Michael O’Donovan. It had a sort of death-warrant attached, in the form of full planning for super-stylish contemporary replacement.

In the interim, the building world sort of collapsed, but the site’s buyer bucked the gloom, and persevered fairly uncompromisingly to build Crown Park Villas Mark 11, exactly as per the drawings by high-end Cork architects Kiosk.

It’s a bit of a stunner, and it’s for sale. Agent Michael O’Donovan, now with Savills, guides the completed four-bed, c 1,500 sq ft home of distinction (and considerable rarity in Montenotte) at €635,000.

Although it’s being sold now with a so-called ‘builder’s finish’ there are PC sums allowed for kitchen, robes and tiling, and there’s already a lot more in the build that the term suggests.

On Middle Glanmire Road near the top of Lovers Walk and with access too to Montenotte Road with pedestrian access, the hideaway Crown Park Villas has off-street deck parking, a garage off Montenotte Road for two cars, has a lower garden with 450 sq ft teak deck and glass ballusters, and in between all is cool design too, complete with copper pressed metal-and cedar cladding and lots of glass.

It has CAT 5 cabling, heat recovery and air to water pump, zoned gas central heating, power showers, and more.

Essentially a two-storey structure, designed as a four-bed, upside-down home, it has its slender bedrooms below, each with garden access, one’s en suite, there’s a solid oak staircase, oak joinery and open plan first floor kitchen/living/dining room with utility, cloaks and WC to the back, and a south-facing balcony in front.

Privately sited between old stone walls, provision has even been made for a lift up from the Montenotte Road.

VERDICT: More than sum of its expensive parts, Crown Park Villas (Mark 11) is a modern viewing perch in an old city quarter.