Two period homes for the price of one (million) on Cork's Blackrock Road

Side-by-side Victorian semis by Lindville have €1m price guide

Property pairing: Glenmalure and Kiilmourne  are near Lindville and Botanika in Ballintemple, on the main Blackrock Road. Lisney Sotheby's International Realty's  Trevor O'Sullivan guides from €1m for both

Ballintemple, Cork CIty
€1 million
Size	194 sq m + 210 sq m
Bedrooms	5 x 2
Bathrooms	4
BER	Exempt

YOU get two halves of a whole at Glenmalure and Kilmourne, a pair of late-Victorian-era semi-detached homes on Cork City’s main Blackrock Road, near the Lindville development...where three detacheds sold at auction last week for just over €2m.

Showing the willingness of niche buyers to take on renovation projects when locations are proven sellers will also work in the case of this well-set duo. These, too, need work, once taken into new hands.

Similar but different:  Glenmalure (right,)  and Kiilmourne have a premium Blackrock Road address

They come to market a week after the disposal of Nos 27, 28, and 53 in Ballintemple’s Lindville estate, which saw three very active bidders chase the trio down from an opening bid of €1.64m to close after 83 bids at €2.036m, with two vacant and one rented out.

The online auction, via Youbid, followed hot on the heels of the similar process sale of four partially completed detached houses and two sites at Ashley on the Rochestown Road for €1.854m, 50% over the initial €1.24m AMV, after a hefty 437 bids. Both property bundles had been associated with the original developers of Lindville and Ashley, the O’Connor family/Croft Park and Corbel Developments. The identity(ies) of buyers at both upmarket locations, Rochestown and Ballintemple, isn’t revealed, but primary interest had come from builders and those with an eye to an opportunity of future resales.

While the late 1990s-built Lindville scheme of 61 homes (detacheds and semi-ds) was a very faithful architectural replication of Victorian-era design along the Blackrock Road (architects were Roderick Hogan Associates, and its success spawned many imitators; see also pages 18-21 this issue), Glenmalure and Kilmourne are the real deal in terms of design and finish, essentially late Victorian to their cores.

They are very broadly similar houses dating to the early 1900s, with lots of period detailing, both inside and outside.

Leafy looks

They stand on grounds of circa one-third of an acre, and have a southerly aspect to the back, with rear access options via a shared lane on Crab Lane, so already tick lots of boxes for the right buyer?

One third of an acre of grounds...

Who will that be?

They go to market this week with estate agent Trevor O’Sullivan, of Lisney Sotheby’s International Realty, with an even €1m price for the two, being sold in one lot. It’s certain to be exceeded as there’s so much scope to rehabilitate them.

The pairing has been in the ownership of a State agency for decades, likely to have been used for sheltered accommodation, and have been empty for several years, and so may qualify for Vacant Property grants.

The scheme specifies a property must be uninhabited for two years, and by the time these transact in early 2026, they should well meet that criterion.

Buyers may be able to avail of grants worth €50,000 each, if used as a principal private residence, or put up for rent.

These are two-storey builds with dormer attic rooms, with different top-level treatments. One’s gable-fronted (Glenmalure, on the right) with twin windows, while Kilmourne has rounded demilune windows in the larger dormer section, and each has two-storey returns.

They’ve a pleasant aesthetic, mostly red brick, with flat-roofed porches, double-height bay windows to the front in different shapes, with sash windows and some feature ornate terracotta panels in window bays, as well as some internal decorative plasterwork and good fireplaces.

Lisney Sotheby IR’s Mr O’Sullivan says they are in sound order overall, but dated, with off-street parking, and the garden to the back is open across the full width of the two houses/ground without dividing boundary, and has some raised beds with very mature back boundary to the south, where a large detached home, called Montana, is on extensive, private grounds with a feature copper beech tree as a visual marker of note.

Rear of the duo

THE rear access point to Glenmaure and Kilmourne is off the very narrow section of Crab Lane, by Montana’s entrance, and Montana itself featured previously in these pages, and shows on the Price Register as a 2017 sale at €1.14m, and across the lane from it a detached bungalow called Eglantine sold in early 2024 for €1m.

Lisney SIR’s late 2025 offer of these two with a €1m AMV (ie €500k each) will stir much local excitement, given the price/value profile of the setting, near Lindville, Janeville, Cleve Hill and the Botanika development.

There’s only been a small number of sales in the vicinity of period homes of late.

The Price Register shows 30 sales in excess of €1m with a Blackrock Road address, and among them is Shamrock Place next door to this pair, which made €1.395m in 2021, while the former SMA house Feltrim, by the African Missions church, sold last year as a part development site on three acres for €6m.

Feltrim sold last year for €6m for development on its three acres

Feltrim was  bought by a private individual who has a rapidly expanding Cork property portfolio/development pipeline, and who has been active in the wider Blackrock hinterland…if he has an appetite for more, he can expect competition for the likes of Glenmalure and Kilmourne.

If he has an appetite for more, he can expect stiff competition for the likes of Glenmalure and Kilmourne.
VERDICT: All sorts of options here in what could be a sweet set of renovations, in a top location, and on an easily worked site, within great rear aspect, easy access and within a gentle walk of Cork city centre.