Wilton €330k beauty hiding in plain sight and busy spot

5 Wilton Villas is a blast from the past and a little beauty ...or will be once more in the right hands

5 Wilton Villas is right by the Wilton Roundabout, and comes with a 150' long back garden with old limestone boundary walls, glasshouse, polytunnel,  lots of charm but needs work

Wilton, Cork City
€330,000
Size	125 sqm (1,335 sq ft)
Bedrooms	3
Bathrooms	2
BER	G

SO YOU think you know Cork’s Wilton? Look again.

Swings and roundabouts

Wilton’s mostly a 20th century Cork suburb, home to swathes of housing and apartment developments, isn’t it?

Wilton Villas: five in a row and a slice of old Cork, likely to date to the Leslie Estate. The Wilton Roundabout area used to be known as Leslies Cross. Locals says the stone may have been left from building the SMA church.

It’s known far and wide for its big built anchors: the huge Cork University Hospital, a veteran shopping centre housing Penneys and Tesco, and, nearby, an Aldi and a Lidl. It also has the 1860s cemetery, St Finbarr’s, on the Glasheen Road, and the Wilton roundabout at its western end.

Back garden at 5 Wilton Villas. Agent Peter Skuse of Cahalane Skuse guides at €330,000, and says it's quite special

Look at the charming run of five stone and brick houses at Wilton Villas with generously long back gardens, however, and you hark back to earlier days of the Leslie Estate, and far quieter roads, when the countryside was on its doorstep to the south and west.

Diversity of house types, and period properties, aren’t what you’d immediately associate with Wilton. Thus, it’s refreshing to be reminded of the handful of gems that have survived, with Wilton Villas and the arrival to market of No 5 in this short cluster as a reminder of pre-suburbia, when neighbours were farmers.

Wilton Hilton?

Estimated to date to about 1900, terraced Wilton Villas comprise just five houses, in Cork limestone and red brick (said to have been built with material left over from the SMA church nearby) with square bay windows and distinctive glazed porch entrances on the outer four, with a double-fronted centre.

Of the charming fistful of five, two are investment properties, another two are private family homes, including the well-presented, double sized No 3 with its plantation blinds giving it a bit of extra aesthetic appeal.

With its huge back garden (and glasshouse and polytunnel) and 45m long old limestone boundary wall to the rear, No 5 can offer all of this kerb appeal, and more, to its next owner. It’s being sold by a family with links dating back 50 years or so, says estate agent Peter Skuse, of Cahalane Skuse.

Side porch entrance to 5 Wilton Villas

“I sold No 4 decades ago, and the buyer is still pleased with it,” he quips, adding that he also worked on the popular nearby private apartments, Wilton Manor, around 1990, so he’s seen the changes in the locale.

(Another Wilton Roundabout low-rise apartment scheme, Iona Hall, is also from the 1990s, and apartments in both now sell for between €250-300k.)

In contrast, Mr Skuse says Wilton Villas No 5 “is quite special” with a number of hidden attractions, and already getting a cross-section of interest, with admirers who see huge potential in it, and its 2.7m high ceilings, original internal features plus attractive stairs, sloping bedroom ceilings, internal corbeled hall arch, as well as old brick outbuildings.

Mr Skuse guides the c 125 sq m home at €330,000, and has it under offer at €310k.

“Inquiries are from a wide spectrum; it’s not huge in viewings yet but the interest from those who’ve spotted it is serious, including from some outside the country.”

As a renovation and upgrade job, it’s not entirely daunting, even if builders won’t thank you for not being able to park up/put a skip by the door: it has a busy road outside, on the city side of the Wilton Roundabout, with no reserved parking, but has an enclosed front garden with original wrought iron railings.

Next stop? The Wilton Roundabout

Upgrades will qualify for SEAI grants, but vacant/derelict property incentives won’t apply as it has been lived in up to now. For investors, it’s free of rent caps as it has been privately occupied.

VERDICT: Mr Skuse says what is so interesting about No 5 is finding a rare older property in the Wilton/Bishopstown area, for a smart buyer to turn into a great home and gardens.