Verdant terrace takes apartment in Cork's Tivoli to a whole new level

This uber-stylish duplex with fantastic garden 'room' has panoramic views across the Lee from its Silversprings perch

Sun, 18 May, 2025 - 12:37

Property Editor Tommy Barker reports Pictures John Roche

Tivoli, Cork city
€350,000
Size	80 sq m (856 sq ft)
Bedrooms	2
Bathrooms	2
BER	C1

A LOVE of travel, appreciation for fine boutique hotels and interior elan, green fingers, and the chance to work on a broader canvas bring 15 Glenmont, a duplex apartment with a verdant terrace to the open market for the first time in Cork’s Tivoli.

Bought in 2004 as an investment, moved into as a private bachelor pad in 2008 and home to a now married couple, No 15 is an uber stylish two-bed, two-bath 80 sq m home with a 40 sq m ‘room outside’ terrace packed with greenery, flowering plants in pots of all sizes, and a place to picnic or party al fresco in Glenmont, above the Silversprings Hotel and District Health & Leisure centre, just east of the city — but, when inside, you could be almost anywhere at all.

“For us the terrace is the pièce de résistance, it is literally an extension of our living space, and we’ve enjoyed many days/nights barbecuing and entertaining friends,” say Philippines-born and now Irish citizen Gilbert Onate and his husband, Cork man Paul; they married in 2017 and have been making this their chic Cork home and elevated garden room ever since.

Looking due south from the two-storey apartment, and from the inviting huge sunny terrace, they say “it has a 180-degree panorama over to the hills surrounding Rochestown and all the way over to Cork Airport. You can really see why they named the place Tivoli way back when,” accepting that “if it weren’t for the Port of Cork crane in the foreground, the view of the river, the rolling hills and the big sky would definitely lead you to believe you were in Italy.”

A move to a place in the country, and a big garden project, now beckon, and No 15 is fresh to market with Paul Fenton of Sherry FitzGerald, who guides at €350,000. It’s so smart, it’s likely many viewers may want to have much of the interior items making part of their purchase, with next owners already invited to take over the myriad plants; “most are to heavy and happily at home now to move, and there’s probably 50 pots now,” says vendor Paul.

“Don’t be scared by that, though, it’s all actually pretty easy to look after. We’ve chosen most of them because they can handle the sun and are relatively drought tolerant,” explains Paul. “Give them some water in the summer, feed them maybe twice a year and the odd trim when they get boisterous … it’s surprisingly easy, even for a novice,” admits fledgling gardener and influencer Gilbert Onate (on Instagram — @imbetchos).

Among the longer settled mature ‘specimens’ is the miniature Mugo pine, which looks a bit like a bonsai, a large Scots pine has been there for nearly 20 years and “although it’s a substantial tree, because it’s in a pot it’s topped out at about four metres”.

Other veteran survivors include pittosporum globes (again nearly 20 years old), bottlebrush, acer, silver birch, bamboo and olive trees (two in pots are at the door to No 15) while other pots have easy maintenance perennials like the fiery red Crocosmia Lucifer and Verbena bonariensis, as well as a few wild ferns “which blew in on the wind many years ago and thrived”, they quip, a bit like their own relationship...?!

“We’ve been really happy here for years and we’re kind of sad to be leaving, however we’re excited about the next chapter and looking forward to getting stuck into our Grand-ish Design and particularly designing our new gardens,” say the couple, stating the interior look comes from travelling and stays in styled hotels around Europe and further afield, including Hotel Rum in Budapest, The Noblemen Hotel in Amsterdam, and Hotel Lobby Room in Seville “to name but a few”.

With its pure Leeside views, Cork’s Glenmont itself has 36 units, in two unusually laid-out blocks of ‘split level duplexes’, under curved copper-style membrane roofs, which launched back in 2004 for developers O’Brien & O’Flynn with design by Jack Coughlan Associates.

Back in 2004 we noted in these pages “there’s a touch of terraced townhouse, there’s a touch of apartment, there’s a strong flavour of maisonette — but what they are is certainly a departure from the norm”. We added that, given the stepped-down nature of the building adapting to the site’s sloped incline, in the lines of the Simon and Garfunkel song, it is a place where “one man’s ceiling is another man’s floor” — or roof-top terrace.

Glenmont was the first section of what was to be a 200-home scheme by OBOF who paid €6.5m to the then Moran’s Silversprings Hotel for 24 acres, later assembling a larger site, of 56 acres including the former golf course on the south-aspected Tivoli hillside above the convention centre and now Clayton Silversprings Hotel, with a Limerick firm developing new housing on a section here up the internal, cul de sac roadway.

The layout of the c 850sq ft No 15 Glenmont is naturally enough quite standard to the original design, with entry point into the chi-chi home opening to two double bedrooms (one is en suite) and main bathroom with shower over bath. Meanwhile, a luxe yellow carpet leads down a dark horse stairwell (because the deep colour is Dressage, by Colourtrend, also in the bathrooms) to a large living/ dining/ kitchen room, full width and depth, with the downstairs walls, ceiling and skirtings painted in Mouse’s Back by Farrow & Ball (the bedrooms are Standing Tall and Scullery Green by Colourtrend).

Sherry FitzGerald auctioneer Paul Fenton says 15 Glenmont is “immaculately presented; it’s sophisticated, with a restful atmosphere that enhances the feeling of space and light throughout. It’s perfectly positioned to capture breathtaking, uninterrupted views over the River Lee, Marina, and Blackrock.”

He adds that as it’s been an owner-occupied home “it’s free from RPZ rental restrictions, making it a versatile choice for first-time buyers, downsizers and returnees to Cork, or to discerning investors”.

Looking over the Tivoli lands where future residential development is anticipated to replace port activities, 15 Glenmont has gas central heating, parking, a C1 BER, a setting close to the North Ring Road, Jack Lynch Tunnel, and Dunkettle Interchange, and has the adjacent hotel’s leisure centre and tennis court on its doorstep.

The Property Price Register shows No 24 Glenmont selling in 2024 for €340,000, above its €315k launch guide, so sort of back to 2006 levels in price terms.