Tiny 5ft wide front-of-house is just tip of the iceberg at €295k Cork City home

Behind a tiny façade, No 31 Prosperity Square opens into a cleverly redesigned city home with a rare private garden

Fri, 14 Nov, 2025 - 00:10

Catherine Shanahan

Barrack St, Cork city
€295,000
Size	76 sq m (818 sq ft)
Bedrooms	2
Bathrooms	2
BER	C

BOSCO, the red-haired TV puppet best remembered for his catchphrase “Come with me, through the magic door,” would have had a field day at No 31 Prosperity Square, a house with the deceptive spatial properties of a Tardis.

Viewed from the street, it seems as though half the house is missing — and that's being generous. All told, the façade measures less than 5ft wide.

When the owner first spotted it in a property advert, he liked the look of the old stone wall that curved around the back garden but dismissed it on the basis of size. “I thought it was too small and thought no more of it,” he says.

Classy rear extension at No 31 Prosperity Square, Cork city.

That opinion changed after viewing another house in the square that had been renovated and modernised. Seeing that the unassuming terraced homes had more to them than met the eye, he took a proper look at No 31.

“We viewed it, and I thought, ‘Definitely, this could be great’,” he says.

On a corner site, it’s one of just two homes in the square that still retain a back garden — the others have been surrendered to extensions — and it’s the larger garden of the two, a delightful, south-facing nook enclosed by the old stone wall, high enough to ensure complete privacy for weekend barbecues or morning coffee.

It’s the kind of secluded outdoor space that many city-centre dwellers can only dream of.

The owner’s father, a carpenter, agreed that the house had excellent potential, so he bought it in 2016 for €150,000, moving in before Christmas.

Like any good tradesman — he’s an electrician — he followed the sage advice to get to know the house before tearing any walls down or drawing up new floor plans.

He and his partner (she can take credit for the décor) observed how the sun moved through the rooms, where the draughts came in and what spaces felt cramped or just right, before starting renovations in 2018.

The house was rewired and replumbed, with much of the work done by father and son.

An architect friend translated the couple’s ideas into a thoughtful design, and an existing extension — galley kitchen and downstairs loo — was flattened and replaced with a space that wouldn’t look out of place on a 2025 list of clever small-home designs.

New windows were fitted and engineered oak floors were laid.

The house is now pretty as a picture, from the pale-pink front door and attractive tiled hallway, to the cosy living room with open fireplace, through to the smartly designed open-plan kitchen/dining room, which feels more New York loft than historic Cork townhouse.

Warm oak countertops and ink-black cabinetry dominate a space designed for cooking, relaxing and entertaining. The back wall is fully glazed and slides open to the garden.

It’s a light-filled, inviting space that makes a dramatic difference to what was a two-up, two-down home where a French polisher called Lester once reared a family of five.

Upstairs, a new shower room was installed (there’s also a small downstairs loo with a window the owner uncovered while scraping off plaster).

When plaster was stripped back in the main bedroom, a redbrick wall and fireplace were revealed. It’s distinctly country cottage.

A second bedroom was for the children — they have two now — hence the move to a bigger home off College Rd, where the handy owner of Prosperity Square has converted two flats into a family home, albeit without his late father’s help.

The owner reckons No 31 Prosperity Square is a terrific house for a young person or couple starting out, or even a young family.

The agent selling it, Áine McLoughlin of AML Property Services, says bidding has already gone well above the asking price of €295,000.

“It looks so dinky out front, but there is plenty going on behind,” she says.

“It ticks so many boxes on so many levels. The location is fantastic: A 15-minute walk from UCC, less than 10 minutes into the city centre.

“And it’s such a lovely house, you could literally drop your bags and move in.”

Its proximity to University College Cork means No 31 is attracting interest from parents of third-level students thinking of investing in accommodation close to the university.

But the principal interest in this 76 sq m, 19th-century property is from would-be owner-occupiers, who love the quaint, quiet square — originally built to house workers and tradespeople in Cork’s tightly knit south inner city — and its strong sense of community.

Moreover, the neighbourhood is becoming a template for inner-city rejuvenation, with extensive work done on both nearby Douglas St and Barrack St, turning it into a vibrant city quarter.