A five-bed in Blackrock's former convent for €600,000

On a historic day for the neighbourhood, Tommy Barker admires one of the first resales in Convent Gardens

16 Convent Garden in Blackrock sold for just under €500k last year.

Blackrock Village, Cork City
€600,000
Size	200 sq m (2,200 sq ft)
Bedrooms	5
Bathrooms	4
BER	A2

The last step in the end of an era — the departure of the Ursuline Order from Cork’s Blackrock — takes place today as antique furniture from the convent gets auctioned by agents Marshs: might it be nice if some of the modern homes and apartments in and around the former convent’s grounds ended up with some of the items associated with the place for decades, if not centuries?

The religious order had sold the historic convent/merchants’ mansion — once called Pleasant Fields — back in 2002, for development, getting €13 million at the time, and they ‘downsized’ then to a purpose-built new 16-bed home.

Roll on a mere two decades in a 200-year history and they’ve now also sold that replacement home (hence today’s furniture auction) fetching a further €4 million prior to Christmas, with that section of the grounds bought for residential development, again by Lyonshall who had trumped in the bidding back in ’02 also, before selling on with planning in place for hundreds of new homes.

Coming into 2022, there are now many hundreds of homes as envisaged in the various sections, from the early Eden and Blackrock Villas phases of townhouses to later terraces, and with plans for a final c 274 apartments mooted by current owners Glenveagh Properties.

Glenveagh have already completed and sold out on the less-dense Convent Gardens, Convent Mews, and Convent Drive sections, — and now one of the very first resales, that of No 16, has presented itself.

The Price Register shows No 16 as the last new-builds to sell here, at €499,950 or just €50 short of €500k in April 2021.

Its buyer’s plans have changed, though, and plans to relocate to Blackrock and Cork have upended, hence its offer via Sherry FitzGerald in walk-in order.

It had been fully furnished by a family member who does interior design, and while the asking price today at €600k doesn’t include the freestanding furniture, tables, chairs etc, it just might very well suit an intending buyer who is also relocating to make a separate offer on the as-new furniture, beds etc to save having to furnish it from scratch.

No 16 is one of 17 similar and notably tall, three-storey townhouses in the Convent section, along with a small number of three- and four-bed semis and detacheds which will all share direct access to Blackrock village along the side of Blackrock Crescent and the original convent (now luxury apartments rebranded as Blackrock House.

This village access has already carried a price premium over earlier sections accessed via Skehard Road.

Internally, it has extra high ceilings (c 10’, the loftiness is felt immediately on entering) with a ground floor reception rooms, kitchen/diner, utility and guest WC) and the Kitchen and island are by Kube.

The first floor has a front reception room, with two windows overlooking the convent grounds, as well as two bedrooms, one of them en suite, while the top floor holds three bedrooms, one en suite, and the main family bathroom with a bath.

It gets an A3 BER, with air-to-water heating, has a brick front facade over three levels in front, with off-street parking and behind the enclosed garden is south-facing, with light streaming into the main kitchen/diner, and into the main en suite bedroom directly above.

VERDICT: Spacious, and so finished — and especially if bought furnished — it could be the answer to a home-hunter's prayers in and around Blackrock village. Garden planting will help bed it down too for the years ahead.