Supersize €825k house Shanakiel was the Ecklinville of its day
Curious crowds turned up to view Mount Prospect when the first home was unveiled in the early 1990s
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Shanakiel, Cork City |
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€825,000 |
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Size |
222 sq m (2386 sq ft) |
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Bedrooms |
5 |
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Bathrooms |
4 |
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BER |
C2 |
VIRAL videos of hundreds of house-hunters queuing to view a single property are all too familiar these days.
With nowhere near the amount of houses needed to match demand, standing in line for hours to secure a home is increasingly commonplace.
Things weren’t quite so desperate at the start of the 1990s, but a crowd did show up when the first home in Shanakiel’s Mount Prospect was unveiled.
There was much chatter around town about this new breed of family home, supersize by most estate house standards.
You could say it was the Ecklinville of its day, with both developments boasting five-bed, 2,000 sq ft plus homes and both with plummy addresses: The recently launched Ecklinville is on Orchard Road and the older Mount Prospect scheme is high up above Sunday’s Well Road.
Both developments had just enough units to make them exclusive (eight homes in Mount Prospect, nine at Ecklinville) and both have postcodes popular with medics — Orchard Road is close to the Bon Secours, Cork University Hospital, and UCC/MTU — while anyone coming down from Shanakiel can cross the Shakey Bridge by foot, or drive over Wellington Bridge and reach all of those same destinations in no time.
It will surprise no-one that the couple that bought No 1 Mount Prospect both had a medical background, one being a GP and the other a GP practice nurse.
The man of the house recalls the day No 8, the showhouse in the O’Brien O’Flynn scheme, was launched.
“It was a Sunday afternoon and literally throngs came to see it, including myself. They were substantial houses at the time, and they generated a lot of interest,” he says.
He didn’t buy at the launch but took the opportunity to do so four years later.
“The chap we bought from didn’t get to spend very long at No 1, as he was working with Bord Gáis and was transferred to Dublin. It came on the market again in 1994 and that’s when we bought it,” the owner says.
He recalls that, at the time, there wasn’t “a single traffic light” between his near Blackpool-based practice and his Shanakiel home.
“Location was a big thing when I bought the house. It was brilliant for the work commute and for schools and university — not to mention Fitzgerald’s Park, when the kids were small,” the owner says.
It was great for the Ballincollig-based cousins too, he laughs, as they had somewhere to stay if they fancied a night out in town.
“We had plenty of room for people to stay over. Size and convenience were important factors when we bought the house,” he says.
When the three kids were small, they went over the hill to Clogheen and onto Kerry Pike National School, a 10-minute drive. For secondary school, they “went down the hill by the Angler’s Rest” to Coláiste Choilm, in Ballincollig. For third level, they headed down the hill to the bottom of Sunday’s Well and across the Shakey Bridge to UCC.
“I remember they were traumatised when the Shakey Bridge closed for repair (August 2019 — December 2020) because it added a few minutes to their journey.
“Prior to the closure, they could make it to UCC in about nine minutes,” the girls’ father says.
He describes their home as “a sanctuary for family and cousins”, with its appeal enhanced in 2005 by the addition of a lovely sunroom.
A new kitchen was fitted too, handmade with American yellow birch units and solid teak worktop.
The kitchen is open to the sunroom, making for a bright and inviting dining experience.
For more formal occasions — or extended entertaining — there’s a formal dining room too, through an arch from the kitchen, and a sliding door leads from here to the side garden — while double doors open into a TV room.
The range of interconnected rooms create a great entertainment space, but there’s scope to retreat too via the front-of-house living room.
Upstairs, the main bedroom has an en suite with jacuzzi bath and one of the five bedrooms has been converted into a walk-in wardrobe.
As selling agent Seán McCarthy, of ERA Downey McCarthy, points out — it could “serve a multitude of uses” , potentially as a fifth bedroom or home office or study.
There’s other home office options too — one of the current owners had a passion for art and a fully insulated art/hobby shed was installed out back, as well as a fully insulated studio space.
New owners might also re-jig the layout, carry out some modernising, or opt to make more of the garage (teen den or gym).
No 1 Mount Prospect is a fine home on a corner site that’s easy to manage, with enclosed lawn to the side and rear (west-facing), a small patio off the dining room, and off-street parking for three cars.
The owner says: “All the neighbours are supportive without living in each others’ pockets. We’ve our own community defibrillator and WhatsApp group and we’ve had lovely Xmas outings over the years.”He says No 1 is “an ideal family trade-up — perfect for anyone working in the Bons or CUH, with an on-call commitment”.
The owner says it compares favourably with the Ecklinville homes, which Savills are currently selling for in the region of €1.3m (they are A-rated). The guide price for No 1 is €825,000 and Mr McCarthy says it’s “a fantastic and unique opportunity for those who wish to live near the heart of the city”.
“These homes don’t come up for sale. I think only one has changed hands since they were built,” he says.
Given its size and location, No 1 is likely to attract medics, and perhaps Apple executives, given the short commute to Hollyhill.
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