Own one of Cobh's picture-perfect Deck of Cards houses for €275,000

Fancy living on one of the most photographed streets in the world?

19 West View on Barrack Hill in Cobh

Cobh, Co Cork
€275,000
Size	90 sq m (968 sq ft)
Bedrooms	3
Bathrooms	3
BER	C3

What's to be said about West View that hasn’t been said already? Famous for a ball run instead of a bull run, immortalised in postcards of Cobh, and known the world over as the famous Deck of Cards, it’s as iconic a row of homes as you could hope to find.

It’s also not prohibitively expensive to live there — No 19 West View, Barrack Hill, has just come to market at a price likely to attract first time buyers.

Living in West View makes you part of a terrace of closely stacked homes, on steeply sloping terrain, that locals joke would topple like a deck of cards if the most downhill among them suddenly gave way under the strain of propping up its 22 neighbours. It also means you are centre stage for the annual charity ball run (suspended during Covid), where thousands of multicoloured balls are released downhill, with prizes for the owners of those that travel fastest.

Barrack Hill hosts the annual charity ball run that adds more colour to the street. Picture: David Keane.

That houses were ever built on this vertiginous hill is a tribute to the architects who designed them and the builders who built them 170 years ago — an achievement recognised in a database of our built heritage, Buildings of Ireland, which says “Their complex means of construction and sophisticated design makes this terrace a noteworthy presence in the streetscape”.

Noteworthy surely, and the most photographed street of any in the country, photobombed from above and behind by the giant gothic spire of stunning St Colman’s Cathedral. Those cathedral views are on show from the rear double bedroom on the second floor of No 19 West View, while on the floor below, another double bedroom, with an ensuite and a box bay window to the front of the property, looks out towards stunning harbour views.

A separate bedroom on the second floor is also ensuite and overlooks the front of the property, where an amenity garden runs down the slope of Barrack Hill opposite the colourful homes.

The main living areas in three-storey No 19 are downstairs: a living room faces onto the hill and to the rear, through an open archway, a trendy kitchen diner, with classic subway tiles, overlooks a small yard.

There’s scope to do more with the yard which is dominated by a steeltech storage shed — a few hanging baskets, some quality paving and brightly coloured masonry paint could work wonders.

No 19 last came up for sale in 2015 and sold for €146,000 according to the Property Price Register. Since then, it’s been renovated — plastering, plumbing, kitchen upgrade — and rented out long term.

Gillian McDonnell of Sherry FitzGerald is the selling agent, and her guide price is €275,000 — the same guide price quoted by auctioneer Johanna Murphy vis-a-vis No 13 West View, which is also up for sale.

Prior to this year, the last sale on the hill was five years ago, when No 21 sold for €177,500, according to the Register.

Ms McDonnell is expecting 90 sq m No 19 to generate strong interest and believes it will be bought by someone keen on living in it.

“I reckon it will be a first time buyer, or possibly someone looking to downsize to a location in the town,” she says.

It may also attract an overseas buyer given Cobh’s importance in the lives of many 19th and early 20th century emigrants to the US, for whom it was the last port of call before arriving at Ellis Island for the start of a new life.

The town is riding high right now on the back of a recent win in this year’s Tidy Towns’ competition, where it took the title of Ireland’s Tidiest Large Town. Given it’s on a winning streak, might now be a good time to buy in this quaint seaport town?

VERDICT: Who doesn’t want to own a picture-perfect home? This one’s within reach of first time buyers.