What the Dickens — a house on Sunday's Well Ebeneezer Terrace for €495k
No 31, Sunday's Well Road is set high above the River Lee. Pictures: John Roche
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Sunday's Well, Cork city |
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€575,000 |
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Size |
183 sq m (1975 sq ft) |
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Bedrooms |
5/6 |
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Bathrooms |
3 |
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BER |
C2 |
WITH the ghost of Christmas barely past, it seems entirely fitting that a home on Ebenezer Terrace should come up for sale.
There’s nothing miserly about its owner though. Since buying the 1840s home in 2013 for €262,000 — a knockdown price by Sunday’s Well standards — he’s pumped a good bit into it, boosting its energy rating from a G to an impressive C2 in the process.
When Alex O’Donovan first viewed No 31 Sunday’s Well Road, it wasn’t just the terrace name that had a Dickensian ring to it. The state it was in had echoes of Satis House, home of jilted bride Ms Havisham in Great Expectations. Dickens wrote: “The once luxurious house has been allowed to decay around her.”Alex got the sense that a similar fate had befallen No 31.
“It was in rag order. There was water coming in through a hole in the ceiling. Nothing had been done to it for years,” he says.
Irrespective of its shortcomings, he fell for the property the moment he crossed the threshold.
“When I opened the front door, I could see right through the house. The view was amazing, of trees and the River Lee, and I immediately thought, ‘Yeah, I want it,’ ” he says.
The terrace gives little away from the roadside as each of the half dozen homes is behind a high wall, on the city end of Sunday’s Well Road. To enter the house, you cross a link corridor that brings you to a half landing. Stairs go up and down through a surprising four levels.
Alex did away with a utility and little library in the basement and replaced it with a kitchen/dining/living area as there’s garden access at this level.
“I insulated the basement and opened up the whole area. A sliding door brings you to the patio. Macroom Building Services did the whole lot for me and I had two new windows put in too,” Alex says.
The garden has that much-coveted south-facing aspect and the land slopes down to the river.
Alex’s garden, which is tiered, does not run right down but there is a right-of-way. It needs a good degree of clearance.
Alex says the hidden-away feel to the rear of end-of-terrace No 31 is something he has treasured.
“It’s that peaceful feeling, silence except for the sound of the river. You could spend the whole weekend away from the outside world,” he says.
As well as upgrading the basement, Alex insulated the walls on the first and second floors internally and packed the attic with insulation. He reckons new owners could get the rating to a B2 with more new windows. He’s already replaced three Georgian doors with more energy-efficient alternatives and a new boiler was installed. The house has also been rewired and replumbed.
Sherry FitzGerald’s David Donovan is guiding the 183 sq m home at €575,000 and he says “all of the heavy lifting is done”.
“The property is a superb example of combining modern comforts with original period home features, such as original shutters and ornate fireplaces,” the agent says. “From street level, you wouldn’t think twice about No 31 but, once you get in there, it just keeps giving ,” he adds.
Accommodation includes a second-floor main reception room with fabulous views that extend down over the Mardyke and Fitzgerald’s Park and over much of the city.
The main double-aspect bedroom, on the same floor, enjoys these views too. There are five/six bedrooms in all, spread over the top three floors.
Sunday’s Well, with its cityside convenience and period homes, is a magnet for academics and medics. In the case of No 31, it has both period features and improved energy efficiency.
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