House of the Week: No 4 Eldred Terrace an affordable period home on Cork's Douglas Road, at €315k

One of a terrace of seven three-storey homes built in the late 1800s, it's in original condition, ripe for sensitive upgrades, and is priced at just €315,000

Eldred Terrace, Douglas Road, Cork.

No.4 Eldred Terrace, Douglas Rd, Cork
€315,000
Size	160 sq m (1,772 sq ft)
Bedrooms	5
Bathrooms	2
BER	F

The chance for city living, in a period home within a walk of Cork city centre, in a five-bed home for about the price of a three-bed semi-d further out from urban action, has come to market, in the guise of 4, Eldred Terrace.

It’s at the centre of the terrace, and has been a long time in its owner’s care. It's in original condition, ripe for sensitive upgrades, and is priced at just €315,000 by estate agent Dennis Guerin of Frank V Murphy & Co, for a 1,770 sq ft home.

Eldred Terrace is just at the city end of the Cross Douglas  Road Pic: Larry Cummins

One of a terrace of seven three-storey homes built in the late 1800s as Cork expanded out into surrounding countryside and market gardens, No.4, like its six other lofty neighbours, has a number of distinguishing architectural features, especially up at roof level with ornate detailing around its fascias and dormer windows to the front.

They are best appreciated from across the road, on foot, on the facing footpath on the main Douglas Rd, as like other homes to the east, including 1950s semis past the Cross Douglas Rd, there’s no pavement on this side of the road.

Eldred Terrace comes for sale in deep winter, and has charm, much original interior details, finishes, a number of Victorian fireplaces, ornate plasterwork in some rooms, and has its original sash windows still in situ in front.

Nos.1-7 have, instead, walled and railed-in small front gardens, while behind they have yards and varying degrees of garden, given their shared site’s wedge shape to the back, where there’s a pedestrian access lane reached by the traffic lights by the top of the Cross Douglas Rd.

Effectively, No.4’s the first of the cluster of terraced homes here to come for sale in about a decade, although No.7 did change hands, in poor order, back in 2013 when the Price Register shows it selling for €150,000.

No.7 had been part of the former Nemo Rangers GAA club land assembly in the early 2000s by Fleming Construction, in a deal/swap at the time put at about €7m, and the assembly included the old Department of Defence/FCA site behind part of Eldred Terrace and No.7.

Planning was since secured in 2018 after a multi-million-euro site resale for 204 homes on the  6.5-acre site behind the terrace for a company called Dildar Ltd, with Isle of Man links and whose directors include Cork developer Paul Kenny of the Kenny Group, who developed Park Avenue on the South Douglas Rd, and 26-year-old Darren Kenny. Dildar’s planning grant comprises 50 houses, two- and three-storey, and the majority (153) are apartments with parking for over 300 vehicles.

The scale of the development, on such a top and well-located site a mile or so from the city, was opposed by a number of locals, including those on the Cross Douglas Rd, but it was approved by An Bord Pleanála, with a new signalised entrance just on the Douglas side of Bellair Estate’s lights part of a planning stipulation. Development/construction has yet to commence.

First floor bedroom at 4 Eldred Terrace

The Buildings of Ireland website dates Eldred Terrace to 1896, and says they “retain dormers with decorative consoles and dentils to eaves and simple cast-iron railings and gates to small garden areas to front. Important for scale and character of streetscape.” 

FVM auctioneer Dennis Guerin says No.4 offers buyers keen for the ease of city living the chance to get into a five-bed home, at a very affordable price point, and he describes the location as “a sought-after residential area". 

A number of detached homes, on big sites across the way and either side of the junction with the Cross Douglas Rd have had high-end upgrades, some have been demolished and replaced, and would carry values in excess of €1m.

Eldred Terrace offers buyers keen for the ease of city living the chance to get into a five-bed home, at a very affordable price point,

No.4 comes for sale in deep winter, and has charm, much original interior details, finishes, a number of Victorian fireplaces, ornate plasterwork in some rooms, and has its original sash windows still in situ in front, single glazed, unlike most of its neighbours.

Right now, it gets an F BER and although it is in an area of architectural conservation, it is not a protected structure. It has two ground-floor reception rooms, a rear kitchen with old brick fireplace, and an adjoining pantry, with an oak-floored hall.

There are two first-floor bedrooms, with three-piece bathroom and small office/storage on the stair return, and three further bedrooms under an original slate roof.

The rear yard and garden, with back lane access, have a southerly aspect, and residents have had the use of parking nearby in front of the FCA/Nemo site.

VERDICT: Needing upgrades now, but one of the more original on the terrace and lots to work with, at a keen price point, too.