Trading Up: Melbourn, Bishopstown €450,000

Melbourn Estate in Bishopstown has alway had a sort of American suburbs layout and feel to it, much in part due to the way it was laid out, back around 1969, with all front gardens undivided and rolling one to the other another, with neat lawns along its length, between Curraheen Rd and Model Farm Rd.

Over the years, some have changed this to part-enclose their front gardens. The delightful detached No 44 Melbourn Rd has the best of both worlds or, at least, straddles the fence on the issue of whether to ‘set boundaries’. A corner-set detached, No 44 has a hedge between it and the house next door to the south, while on its northern fringe, it is open along the front and side road to Allendale. It has an enclosed back garden, and the good news is that all of Melbourn’s front and side garden grass cutting is done and overseen by a particularly diligent City Hall gardens section.

An especial feature are the southerly-lit coloured glass window sections done by the Harry Clarke Studios in Dublin decades ago, commissioned by owner the late UCC Chemistry Professor John (Séan) P Teegan and his wife Maura.