Mews for €425k behind Blackrock Road period home

12 Drumcora Mews is in a super-strong suburban location

No 12 Drumcora Mews was built in the grounds of the period gem Drumcora House: agent Megan Forde guides at €425,000

Blackrock Road, Cork City
€425,000
Size	87 sq m (940 sq ft)
Bedrooms	3
Bathrooms	3
BER	C2

HOMES at Cork’s city Drumcora Mews are about a quarter of a century old now — but that’s only a fraction of the age of its venerable neighbour, the original Drumcora House from which the development gets its name, and which is currently undergoing something of a rebirth.

Drumcora House (formerly Dunlop Social Club), on the Blackrock Road being redeveloped into six apartments , with (on right) a new build of six apartments beside it.

Dating to c 1800, the three-storey Drumcora House is in a truly prime position on the main Blackrock Rd.

It is familiar-looking to admirers of period properties with its slate-hung exterior and elegant, full height bays, even if it had faded into some decrepitude in recent decades, after ceasing service as a sports and social club for one-time major city employer Dunlops.

Rear view of 12 Drumcora Mews

That’s a state which gladly is being redressed with a multi-million conservation and conversion back to residential status currently advancing, with six apartments due within the period house — plus six more in a brand new block being built alongside to a design by Meitheal Architects, which may be near finished later this year.

Interior of No 12

Previous owners include architect Thomas Deane, from 1823, as well as merchant families like the Dalys (spirits), Doyles (shipping), and Mahonys (Blarney mills).

Just as the Blackrock Rd location provided a draw to previous generations of Corkonians, so it will again now that the more modestly sized No 12 Drumcora Mews comes for sale.

It’s a three-bed, mid-terraced home/mews of just about 1,000 sq ft, and is guided at €425,000 by estate agent Megan Forde, of Sherry FitzGerald, who says “it’s situated in a most desirable area”.

It’s set to the back of Drumcora Mews, which comprise of about five short blocks of townhouses — about two dozen only in all.

The Price Register shows No 9 selling in 2013 for €190,000. No 9 sold again in 2019 for €100k more, some €297,000, and the far larger end-terrace No 10 in the adjacent Drumcora Mews block sold in 2020 for €520,000.

Meanwhile, the detached and extended No 1 Drumcora Mews went for sale three years ago, making €790,000.

In this instance, No 12’s one of four in the block or run, facing the old Passage Greenway walking route a bit underneath the old Drumcora House grounds to the north towards the River Lee. Its rear is south-facing, with an enclosed garden/courtyard with some mature planting, hard surface patio in several stepped levels up to a back wall with gated, second access … so handy.

Useful rear pedestrian gate to south-facing paved courtyard garden

Internally, it has a front reception with fireplace off a carpeted hall via double doors with small glazed panels, a rear reception links to it, with a door to the kitchen, tidy fitted units, and a guest WC under the stairs.

Above are three bedrooms. One’s quite small, another’s got an en suite with shower, and there’s a main bathroom with a further shower. Heating is via gas, and No 12 has a solid C2 BER.

VERDICT: In excellent maintenance order, but likely to get a modernising brush when purchased, with buyers likely to put a premium on the Blackrock Rd location and cul de sac setting behind period property beauties.