No bum notes at Sunday's Well home of UCC music professor
3 Landscape Terrace in Sunday’s Well. Picture: Chani Anderson
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Sunday's Well, Cork city |
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€550,000 |
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Size |
232 sq m (2497 sq ft) |
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Bedrooms |
3 |
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Bathrooms |
3 |
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BER |
D1 |
VARIOUS luminaries have dazzled the doorways of No 3 Landscape Terrace over the last three decades. The late interiors virtuoso, Bernadette Murphy, restored it to its full period glory while slowly going blind; since 2012, it’s been home to ethnomusicologist Jonathan Stock, Professor of Music at UCC. While Prof Stock’s interests are far flung – he specialises in the music of East Asia, China and Taiwan – his choice of home was guided by the desire to stay local. The terrace is just minutes from UCC’s Department of Music, conducted now out of the former nearby St Vincent’s Seminary in Sunday’s Well.
No 3 is part of a distinctive row of slate-hung homes reputed to have once belonged to the Earl of Cork. He must have clapped himself on the back for the aspect and vista they command. Facing south and looking out over a magnificent cityscape, it’s a setting befitting of - an Earl.
Doubtless Ms Murphy fell for the setting and also the chance to restore a period home, when she bought the house in 1996. With a healthy stock of restored period homes in the UK behind her, she wasn’t fazed by the purple walls and disco balls at No 3, where its previous owner was nightclub king on the Cork scene, the late Dominic O’Keeffe (Coco’s, the Victoria Hotel).
With the trademark determination that saw her complete a Law degree at UCC despite a degenerative eye disease, Ms Murphy project managed the restoration of No 3 so that by the time it featured in these pages in 2011, it was a home “with every brass polished, every period detail intact, perfectly presented”.
Small wonder then that Prof Stock fell for it when he was looking for a home near UCC’s Department of Music 13 years ago.
“She’d put a lot of its 19th century character back into it,” the professor says, adding that she’d made good efforts too to boost light levels, to compensate for her failing eyesight. Such efforts included the installation of skylights, of which the most striking is above the landing.
Made of coloured glass, its loveliness is outdone only by the large window that forms a backdrop to the elegant staircase. Also made of coloured glass, it could have been plucked from a church.
Windows are transformative in other rooms too in this deep-set house, where the main front-facing reception room runs to 35’. Its generous proportions are down to the removal of an internal wall which had the doubly beneficial effect of channeling light through from the south-facing front of the house. Floor-to-ceiling sash windows aid and abet in this respect.
As a double-sized room, it has two fireplaces and an arch where the wall used to be. To the back is a discreet wet bar, which new owners might convert to a downstairs loo. New owners might also decide to repatriate a bedroom in what was originally a five-bedroom house: between the three upstairs bathrooms and the main bedroom (also 35’ deep) there’s definitely scope to bump up the bedroom count from the current three.
A deceptively generous home, spread over almost 2,500 sq ft, it seems a pity that No 3 ended up with a galley kitchen, but the good news is you could knock through to the dining room as another householder on the terrace has done.
That way you get a generous open-plan space with terrific city views.
When Prof Stock bought the house a dozen years ago, the market “was sort of depressed and there was a lot for sale”.
“We looked at quite a lot of property but this one just seemed so calm and serene, with beautiful views across the city towards St Fin Barre’s Cathedral. It was really close to work too, so it was an easy pick,” he says.
They were content with not having large gardens to look after: the garden at No 3 is to the front to make the most of the l south-facing aspect and superlative views.
Gretchen Kelleher of Barry Auctioneers is selling No 3 and she points out that there’s off-street parking, with a designated space in a communal area for each house on the terrace. “It’s a massive perk in an area where parking for residents is at a premium, “ Ms Kelleher says.
Early viewings of No 3, which Ms Kelleher is guiding at €550,000, have included young couples relocating back to Cork from Dublin and from overseas who are “familiar with the area”.
It’s a terrific location for sure: a five minute walk from Cork city centre, close to UCC and to the Bon Secours and Mercy hospitals, close also to Fitzgerald’s Park and the Mardyke Sports Complex.
Very few bum notes at this characterful period home with cracking views in a nice neighbourhood. Investors may snoop too as it’s been owner occupied, ergo no rent cap.
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