Tivoli House in Cork has heritage on its side, and its site, for €1.8m

€1.8m Tivoli House is the third large home built on elevated lands in city's lofty Montenotte: the original gave Tivoli its name

Tivoli House with a glow in the sky: the original on these grounds dated to the 1700s and gave the Tivoil area of Cork its name, borrowed from Italy...as was 'Montenotte'

Sun, 03 Sep, 2023 - 12:00

Property Editor Tommy Barker reports Pictures John Roche

Tivoli, Lovers Walk, Cork City
€1.8 million
Size	210 sq m (2,256 sq ft) on 3.15 acres
Bedrooms	5
Bathrooms	4
BER	B3

IT’S back! The private home that gave Cork’s Tivoli district its name, up in lofty Montenotte, is on the market: it’s the third house of the same name on the site, here ‘just’ since 1961, but with earlier examples of a Tivoli House having been here since the mid 1700s.

Setting for €1.8m Tivoli House, on 3.15 acres at Montenotte

The original Tivoli House was a Palladian mansion on significant elevated acreage, right down to the River Lee, built in a classical style for a James Morrison, then a Lord Mayor of Cork and a wealthy merchant.

Morrison had used renowned architect of the day Davis Duckart for his impressive pile, complete with Roman style temples, one to the goddess Vesta, who minded home, hearth, and family.

Ironically, Vesta was often depicted by fire (Vesta was also for while the name of a ‘strike anywhere’ match brand) and the Cork mansion with a temple in her honour also fell prey to fire in 1820.

A second Tivoli House was later built. That, too, went by the wayside when this house replaced it in 1961, designed by Cork architect James Buchan for the O’Brien family, linked at the time to Youghal Carpets and built by Barry Burke, another name of note of that era.

Now over 60 years old, Tivoli House Mk 111 is still a substantial family home with five bedrooms, and over 2,250 sq ft, in a distinctive, fan or wedge-shaped design to capture light at various parts of the day: on 3.15 acres, it was upgraded back in 2017 so that now it gets a very decent B3 BER.

The elevated, spacious property appeared in these pages back in 2012 when it had a €950,000 AMV and sold for a recorded €910,000 by 2015 after which its upgrades followed in 2017, including triple glazing, insulation, new roof tiling, external doors, kitchen, bathrooms (Jacuzzi bath, etc) and more.

It later got a market outing, at €2.65m in 2018 and with some site potential driving that valuation.

Instead of selling, its owner went for planning permission for nine houses to be built on the balance of the grounds, retaining the now-upgraded home and detached garage, all reached via the upper section of the Tivoli Estate.

However, this was rejected by Cork City planners in March 2022 citing traffic concerns at the ‘infill’ proposal as well as expressing some concerns about the impact on an area of high visual amenity, visible from the south city suburbs, Blackrock, and the leafy Marina.

Selling agent once more is Gillian McDonnell of Sherry FitzGerald, who on its 2023 late summer outing says that’s it’s a chance to get a great family home on one of the largest amount of grounds either side of the Lee in Cork, in a very well established location, with an excellent BER, and commanding views over the Lee, suburbs, and inner stretches of Cork harbour.

Much of the tiered northside hill slope area around Lovers Walk, Woodhill, and the Tivoli Estate got built on since the 1960s, with the most recent development being at St Dominic’s Ennismore just to the north, while the break up of very large Montenotte ridge buildings like the 30,000 sq ft Clifton Convalescent Home (ex Good Shepherd Convent) continues, most recently for use for housing Ukranian refugees after selling earlier this year for €2.15m. Also showing on the Price Register is Hyde Park House at €1.9m, having initially been offered for sale as a private home.

Continuing private usage now seems the future for Tivoli House and its impressive and expansive grounds, ringed with mature trees, with three fine reception rooms, five bedrooms (two with access to a viewing balcony), feature splayed and slight split level hall and curved staircase, and quality internal built materials, with feature ten-panel internal timber doors.

VERDICT: Very large new homes have been built closeby in the past decade or two on serviced sites, some of them selling for up to €500k. While planning was knocked for nine builds at Tivoli House, its next owners may hope to see approval for one, two, or a few low-impact and low-slung serviced sites on the 3+acres at some time in the future, possibly as a trade-down option in years to come, on an eponymous Tivoli site with such a long and noble history.