Gutted: €895k Douglas period home Lynton gets a major upgrade and B2 grade to boot

What a difference a decade makes! Early 1900s home has been brought up to 21st century comforts and a B2 BER after 2013 sale

Sun, 02 Jul, 2023 - 10:00

Property Editor Tommy Barker reports

Cross Douglas Road Cork City
€895,000
Size	215 sq m (2,300 sq ft)
Bedrooms	4/5
Bathrooms	3
BER	B2

IT will be 10 years next month since Lynton appeared in these pages, making House of the Week slot in August 2013.

Lynton in 2013, still lovely, but a tad jaded

Now, the 1905 era home is back for sale…but it’s a different house, from the front wall and bay window right the way back.

Gutted, it was.

The Edwardian-era home, on Cork’s Cross Douglas Road, has been done front to back and bottom to top, moving on the way from a G BER to a B2, and size wise from c 2,000 sq ft to 2,300 sq ft, all of these square feet newly shod and updated.

You’d be hard-pressed to find any memories of the old Lynton here, bar perhaps a fireplace or two, the feel of welcome from the long entry hall in, and the knock-out impression of the super-long back, west-facing garden.

It has also, along the way, doubled in financial value, while for buyers in today’s market nervous of taking on a ‘project’, there’s inestimable value in buying a done deed: no wonder at all that it’s under immediate viewing pressure with agent Cearbhall Behan of Behan Irwin Gosling.

He guides the walk-in updated period Douglas home at €895,000, and the Price Register shows it selling in 2014 for €440,000, just under its then-€450,000 AMV.

Lynton's light and airy, and larger in size at 2,300 sq ft today

The buyers considered all options, didn’t rush to move into it as it was, and then with architect Patrick Henderson went for planning for a two-storey extension in place of an older single storey back add-on, getting in by 2017, job oxo.

Lynton’s previous owner had been here 20 years or so, and the aesthetic was stripped pine, art and artefacts, and exuberant colours, variously described as ‘mad’ or ‘individual.’ It was before 50 shades of grey took over internal décor, let’s just say at this safe distance....

Back in 2013 we wrote “now, for all of its charm, Lynton too needs work on purchase, but the basics are all good: it feels sound and straight, and most original features are intact and in situ, such as fireplaces, cornice work, windows, tiles, etc.”

Lynton has a 300' long back garden, going back to the old Nemo GAA grounds at the far distant end

Mentioned were the various bedrooms and bathrooms “some done in exuberant colours and just some off-beat colours and with cast iron fireplace details picked out in enamel paints, and some floors have gaily patterned paint effects, like a giant chessboard.”

A teenager-ish attic bedroom was simply referred to by the selling agent of the day as ’circus-ring like.’ It’s all been through the circus hoops since, clearly.

Lynton was essential stripped back to the four walls, using the building expertise of Derek O’Driscoll and DKS Construction.

Partition walls were removed, as were ceilings and floors: this is the stage when buyers typically wonder abut what it is exactly they have bought!

A new floor with damp proof membrane and Radon barrier went down at the basic bottom level. Window lintels were replaced. The roof was redone with timbers treated and insulated panels installed.

It was rewired and replumbed, with all new bathrooms, extensively tiled and new gas central heating was fitted.

There’s triple glazing, sash style windows in front (the front rooms have internal insulation so as not to impact the exterior façade).

Thermal and acoustic mineral wool insulation was placed between all floors and in all partition walls, with double sound block/acoustic panelling on all partition walls for sound reduction throughout the semi-detached property.

Chimneys were capped, saved for the one serving the front sitting room fireplace, and fire-rated doors and frames were installed throughout the three-storey home.

The ground floor now has engineered oak flooring ground flooring, with wool carpets upstairs for warmth and hush, and the bay windowed front reception room is also carpeted, with an older-era open fireplace.

An open-plan kitchen/living-diner was created at the back, with a large creamy quartz framed island with SMEG appliances and downdraught venting for the hob, with large sliders opening to a west-facing patio. This is surfaced in dark Kilkenny limestone which is ‘flamed,’ essentially torched with white-hot heat to darken it and add to non-slip characteristics.

A small vestibule with second door is on the left, while the midsection of Lynton between this vast family space and the front sitting room houses a utility and a guest WC.

The first floor has a full-width main bedroom to the front with Sliderobes, plus two windows overlooking the private gravel drive and Cross Douglas Road, and it links to a large walk-in/walk through dressing room, which can be repurposed as bedroom No 5, or fitted out as an en suite: plumbing for same has been allowed for.

There’s a large main bathroom midships, with a rear, double bedroom looking west over the long back garden, while the top floor is home to two further bedrooms, one with en suite shower room and feature pitch ceilinged window to the front of the house.

Unsurprisingly, overall condition is tip-top, from top to toe, and it has off-street parking for a couple of motors, with an EV charge point, plus 1 Gb Virgin broadband, whilst an ace up Lynton’s sleeve is the back garden, with great aspect for day and evening sun, long and with a ‘secret’ garden at its far boundary, with treehouse and a shed with power supply.

The garden here runs back to the old Nemo Rangers GAA ground site, slated for high-density development for a number of years, but effectively it’s ‘out of sight, out of mind’ for whoever gets their hands, no matter what gets built there.

The location is ace, within a walk of the city centre, or of Douglas, with sports and recreation facilities galore, as well as schools and other services thanks to the maturity of the location.

Within its first weeks on the market viewings were heading up to 20 parties, very much a mixed bag of traders up and relocators, says locally-living estate agent Cearbhall Behan, vouching it as “one of the most desirable residential locations in Cork city.”