Old beech trees and period house root €995k Reeveswood home to Douglas's history

Eight modern detacheds built in grounds of 1820s Tramore House 

Entrance pillars to upmarket Reeveswood, set amid old beech trees, which are among  the glories of 'old' Douglas village

Douglas Village, Cork City
€995,000
Size	240 sq m (2,580 sq f)
Bedrooms	5
Bathrooms	5
BER	B2

THE original house where Cork’s Reeveswood now stands, Tramore House, is steeped in Douglas lore and history, over two full centuries of it.

Tramore House among its 'new' neighbours

Built in 1820 by a Thomas Sommerville Reeves, on lands leased from the Coppinger family and which, at the time, stood on 23 acres on the edge of the city, it was a family home where the wealthy merchant and property owner (he had 18 properties on Great Georges Street, now Washington Street) and wife Rebecca reared 10 children.

10 Reeveswood, Douglas is priced at €995,000 by agent  Trish Stokes Picture Ted Murphy

By the 1901 Census, two offspring survived and lived in Tramore House with their five servants. In later times it was owned by an Anglican minister, and after 1923, by the Presentation Brothers, who ran it as a school.

Their school morphed into Douglas Community School, and the over-basement Georgian house was sold in the 1990s to developers Gable Holdings, who built a handful of houses, plus apartments and duplexes in the very mature grounds, still graced by century old beech trees.

Attic level bedroom suite at No 10

The eight, detached three-storey houses resurrected the Reeves surname, becoming the niche, upmarket Reeveswood, while the apartments and duplexes became Sommerville.

Resales of the large detacheds are rare, the most recent, No 5, carried a €850,000 AMV and shows on the Price Register in 2019 at €752,000.

Passage of time: clock at 10 Reeveswood may be from the  era of the original Tramore House

Now, No 10 has come to market, for a trading-down family, and is a very well-kept five-bed, three-storey home with interiors of almost 2,600 sq ft.

Selling agent is Patricia (Trish) Stokes, who guides the house at €995,000, at a time of limited supply of good trading-up homes in the mature city suburbs.

Garden view from sunroom

If it sells around this mark, it will closely mirror a previous resale of No 5 which got circa €1m back in late 2008 (pre Property Price Register transparency days), as the property market began several years of a downward slide.

No 5 had carried a €1.1 AMV at the time and, so, as No 10 comes along in 2022 with its AMV just €5k shy of the €1m mark, it does indeed seem residential values in an increasing number of locations are back close to boom time levels.

Most of Reeveswood’s original buyers are still in situ after 25 years, testament to its family-friendly wooded suburban setting with a huge range of services and schools on the doorstep (broadcaster Neil Prendeville was an astute early purchaser.)

Kitchen cabinets at 'No 10'

Ms Stokes describes No 10 as “a formidable, five-bedroomed family home, set out over three defined levels giving plenty of airy and bright space at each floor.”

She says it has been well-cared for and upgraded along the way, adding flexibility of use to some of the upper floors’ five bedrooms, with options to have the main bedroom suite at first or second floor levels. Each has an en suite, and two of the mid-level bedrooms have en suites: more choice, less fights. The top floor is, in effect, a studio, adds Ms Stokes as it’s got so much space, robes, storage etc.

At ground level, meanwhile, is an entrance hall, a living room with deep bay window, family room, and kitchen/diner/sunroom, plus utility and guest WC.

No 10 has had insulation upgrades, as well as piping installed at roof level for solar panels for hot water, and the property has a dual coil cylinder in place and a pressurized water system for pump showers.

Reevewsood houses are noted for their red brick exteriors, handy for low maintenance, especially in a tall home and developers Gable Holdings also produced very similar houses at a development they subsequently undertook in Annacotty, Co Limerick.

VERDICT: If you’re in this price ballpark, there’s plenty to recommend for easy family living at Reeveswood. Who’ll be listed as living here in the next census, in five years time?