Lodge with Lee views by iconic Blackrock Castle is a city Corker

€1.2m Lodge has classic waterside castle and observatory as its next door neighbour

Sun, 15 Sep, 2024 - 22:29

Property Editor Tommy Barker reports Pictures: H-pix

Castle Road, Blackrock
€1.2 million
Size	211 sq m (2,275 sq ft)
Bedrooms	4
Bathrooms	2
BER	C2

THERE’S hardly a city home that says “pure Cork, pure dacint, boy,” as readily as this discretely-sited, and modestly-titled, mansard dormer as The Lodge intones.

Set right on a rocky promontory jutting towards the River Lee as it widens past Blackrock village to Lough Mahon, The Lodge has the emblematic Blackrock Castle as its next door neighbour; has Cork’s most loved waterside walks passing its walls, and to top and tail it, it has framed views from within both up river, and down estuary, that will stir the heartstrings of any home hunters — Cork-born or not.

On the balmy evening the Irish Examiner called to view this fresh-to-market property prize, the setting sun willingly provided the ‘money shot’ from the kitchen window, turning the waters up towards the city to the west pure, molten gold.

“It you think that’s lovely, you should see the sunrise out the other side, from the sun room,” say the owners who’ve been lucky enough to live here for 35 years, to rear a family here, enjoy local sports and schools, plus walks and rowing on the Lee.

Hard to keep up with the gaff next door! Gothic style and restyled Blackrock Castle has true, defensive stone roots to the 16th century, was reinvigorated and altered in the 19th century with turrets, lodge and gateway to a courtyard added on for an impressive result.

The castle has variously been owned by the local authority and played civic roles, has been a restaurant several times, a private home, an engineering firm’s offices, and was reacquired by the City Council. Now, since the early 2000s, it houses an observatory open to the public and education groups, and a thriving café with al fresco dining.

Turns out the café sort of tried its hand at ‘private dining’ too such as during the recent global pandemic.

“We have on occasions during Covid ordered from the Castle Café and it was delivered on silver platters with the addition of a pint of stout and a gin and tonic!” say the owners with an appreciative laugh, adding they love the buzz it all brings to the Castle Rd. Deliveroo? Naw, doorstep dining, more like.

With its own dining room placed for castle and water views through a living room, it’s not surprising The Lodge’s family had taken to entertaining with ease. One of the now-downsizing couple grew up in the family owned Bunnyconnellan bar in Myrtleville — another much-loved Cork outpost commanding water views.

A series of photos in the long sun room here shows the glory days of Bunnys, with kids ranged around the fish pond in the cliff-top grounds which also at times sported an aviary.

In regards to health and safety? “Every week some child fell in and got soaked. My mother would dry them and pack them off in our clothes and we never saw them again!”

There’s yet another, sporting, Cork legend link to The Lodge too.

The Lodge was built over 40 years ago in the former grounds of the 1798-built Castlemahon in this pivotal peninsula point beyond Blackrock village. The over-basement Castlemahon moved from private home to nursing home in the latter years of the 20th century, and before that was the family home of legendary Cork golfer Jimmy Bruen who, though Belfast born, knew a good Cork thing when he saw it, marrying locally and living on the Castle Road in period home grandeur.

After its years as a nursing home, Castlemahon was acquired by the Redemptorist Order in the early 2000s and is run today as a low-key retreat centre, Scala (meaning ‘step’ in Italian), still on acres of mature grounds, good for meditative ambles.

The Lodge stands aside from the leafy entrance avenue to Scala, sharing the access avenue with it and with one other private, quite substantial, modern family home hidden in mature greenery. It stands on its own 0.2 of an acre, on a north-south axis and thus having river views east and west.

Although its Dutch dormer outline is of a type that doesn’t tend to excite design-lovers’ ‘oohs’ and ‘aahs’, it’s a good quality, extremely well-kept family home that pretty much keeps its own head down given the exalted company it keeps, between Blackrock Castle and Castlemahon.

The easy-going owners, with family reared and with several grandchildren who come to visit and to stay, say during their time in The Lodge: “It has seen many life events including a 100th birthday where the Lord Mayor danced with a grandmother.

“It has had other birthday parties, a graduation, a wedding and christening parties and has come full circle with grandchildren running around sticking fairies in the trees and enjoying the walks and cycling locally.”

“The time has come to reluctantly move on and allow another family the pleasure of living in the house and enjoying the view and lifestyle,” they add, having added to the landscaping with an array of trees, shrubs, beds, keeping walkways past ferns and tidying compact lawns and sit-out areas, and doing internal updates along the way.

Views over the old limestone boundary walls are to the castle, first and foremost, and then the river and Lough Mahon, and the Blackrock harbour walkway and waterside exercise station, with shipping passing close by to Tivoli and the docks by the city. Some of the enormous vessels near-fill the window frames on high tides, like meandering buildings going to and from the corners of the world: The owners track them, and their cargoes, with near-vested interest.

There’s also boaters, and crews in sculls, fours and eights from the three rowing clubs along the Marina/Blackrock, currachs from Meitheal Mara/Naomhoga Chorcai, kayakers, yachts and dinghies and RIBs doing harbour tours — they all pass the sentinel Blackrock Castle and, by default, The Lodge.

On the basis that if you can’t beat them join them, one of the occupants here has done the Ocean to City race from Crosshaven the City Hall — so, she knows her city, and her home patches, inside out.

Auctioneer Lawrence Sweeney of Savills is selling, and since he got the sales listing and instructions (he’s guiding at €1.2m) he says word has leaked out that The Lodge was about to launch: “I’ve had a good few calls and requests for viewings. It’s a fabulous property , and is going to capture someone’s heart for sure.”

After a slow start to 2024, Cork’s Blackrock is ending with a number of strong sales.

The period Georgian gem Riverside nearby on Castle Road sold for €2.1m; three other €1m+ sales are on the Price Register for 2024, several €1m to €2.5m listings on Blackrock Road’s midsection are currently viewing strongly, and Savills themselves are ‘sale agreed’ on a Victorian listing for over its AMV, likely to be excess €1m, at the city end’s Victoria Road at Park Villas.

Home hunters with cash to splash will have one or two other good local Blackrock area listings to come in the next few weeks and — take heart — this edition of ‘Property & Home’ has some more affordable listings too, in and around the €400/€500k league. Go browse.

But, Castle Road? Mr Sweeney admits it a location that speaks for itself — in a Cork accent, natch — and says the grounds are a gardener’s paradise, private and easily kept, while the house itself has been regularly updated with a number of the windows replaced as recently as last year.

The two-story dormer has up to four bedrooms, one/two at ground level next to a bathroom, and upstairs, past framed artwork and ceramics, is an en suite main bedroom with viewing balcony for sunrise coffees. There is also a large, double- sized and double-aspect further bedroom, created by joining two smaller ones together for sleeping/living/study room for teens.

There’s complete charm already in the comfortable 2,200 sq ft, C1-rated home: The attached gable end car port has scope for easy upgrade/integration to the main house, while the sun room with three overhead Veluxes is the family’s ‘red-dot’ room and daily hub.

The kitchen, with its upriver views, is a near rival, while the living/dining room over a stepped level is quite picture perfect too, again with lots of local art and water scenes on the walls.

Will it all change? It may, or it may not, simple as. Lucky the folk that get to live here: Like the vendors who got 35 years enjoyment, they are likely to stay long-term.

It can adapt — there’s only two bathrooms, for example, likely to be seen as a bit light for a two-storey/four-bedroom home by many buying at the market’s upper level.

The views are stunning, so some may look to improve them even further, going for more and more glass, with aspirations limited only by budget (the €1.2m AMV may be just a start point) and, of course, planning.

It’s likely City Hall won’t want something too obtrusive here given the proximity to Blackrock Castle?

Then again, that castle isn’t going to be cowed by anything at all and it has an observatory done on its roof, so perhaps the sky’s the limit?

VERDICT: A great home, but oh, the site, and the siting.

Where else would you get it?