A brand new classic home on Glasheen Road

Tommy Barker discovers a new family home built to modern standards but with a timeless, stylish elegance

Sat, 29 Sep, 2018 - 01:00

Tommy Barker discovers a new family home built to modern standards but with a timeless, stylish elegance

About the only thing missing from Hayfield House is its first occupants — just about everything else is already in situ.

Standout, in more ways than one, is this three-storey, five-bedroomed and very deep-set detached home on a long and deep site.

Carrying a similar name to a certain five-star Cork Hotel, Hayfield House is a modern replacement build stretching to 3,200 sq ft inside, and it feels very much of this size, and scale, with quality throughout to match.

Done to the nines and clearly to an unstinting budget, it came to market just as the summer lull came, listed at €890,000 with agent Conor Smith of Casey & Kingston, who now has it under offer at an already impressive €850,000.

It was built for a family who had long roots in this inner western suburban area, close to UCC, the Bon Secours, the Lough, and within a walk of the city centre. They bought and demolished an older era house on this spot to build afresh, for several generations of family occupation.

But their plans have now changed, hence its sale. On a visit to the house it becomes obvious that this was never done as a flip, or a speculative pitch: this was done with gusto.

South-facing and styled to a Victorian template with ornate hardwood fascias and finials, its ground floor layout is a match for the site’s long, long run, with a lawn stretching right back to a far-distant old limestone wall.

Hayfield House is possibly twice as deep as it is wide: could it be 80’ or even 90’ deep? In any case, its rooms are pretty enormous, throughout, and even the back family room facing an expanse of stone-paved patio is huge, almost the size of a small one-bed apartment.

It has all the bells and whistles, without being flashy; it has external limestone trim, triple-glazing, Ducon slab floor, and floating ceiling in the dining area, two contemporary wood-burning stoves, concrete stairs, oak joinery, marble and porcelain floors, quality bathrooms — some with cascade showers — laundry chute, CCTV, and electric gate access.

It has a ground floor bedroom/study, next to a guest WW set up as a wet room, for life-long adaptability. Above, over the next two levels, three of its five bedrooms are en-suite, the master bedroom has walk-in robes, and even the landings are spacious.

Casey & Kingston agent Conor Smith observes “the discerning eye will appreciate the cutting-edge design, quality of finishes, and sharp contemporary detailing throughout the house, along with all of the space, in a very convenient western suburban location, so close to the city.”

All it needs now is furniture, and a family, as all appliances are already in situ, and brand names like Neff jump out not only across the massive kitchen’s banks of ovens, but also in the utility/laundry also, for washer/driers.

Leaving the fully-finished home, one might be tempted to wonder why the owners didn’t at least move in for a year and establish residency to avoid Capital Gains Tax. Stupid thought, really, given the scale of the initial old house’s purchase, demolition, and rebuild to this size and quality. Simply, there’s little chance of a capital gain.