New meets old and older still at €245k Cork North Gate Bridge cracker 

Apartment 201 in Northgate House mixes antiques with the contemporary in medieval city setting

Northgate House apartment 201 is in 1998-built crisp block on Kyrl's Quay for medieval city street entrance

North Gate, Cork City
€245,000
Size	60 sq m (645 sq ft)
Bedrooms	2
Bathrooms	2
BER	C1

IT’S appropriate that the furnishing style of apartment 201 in Cork City’s Northgate House tends towards the antique, even down to having a grandfather clock among the dark wood items in this crisply designed unit.

Standing the test of time: antique furniture and art lend a more timeless air to Northgate House, designed by architect Derek Tynan

One of the owners had trained in furniture restoration and worked in Christie’s London in its decorative arts department, while the apartment building in Cork to which he returned was delivered in 1998 and is the third or fourth tallish structure on this historic city site, guarding the entrance to North Main Street.

Still waters: view from 201

Medieval Cork’s historic street plans and spines date to Norman times and even earlier, notable among them the north and south main streets, each guarded by tower-like castles and defensive gates as entrances to the marshy city of yore.

While a number of buildings still on North Main Street and South Main Street are rooted in the 18th and 19th centuries, and a venerable South Gate Bridge still stands by the ‘unEvents’ centre site on the old Beamish & Crawford brewery site, much of the north river equivalent by the North Gate Bridge has seen more considerable changes — there have even been five or more bridges since medieval times’ timber drawbridge, the current being the wide 1960s Griffith Bridge replacement leading to Shandon Street, the North Mall, and Pope’s Quay.

Tick-tock moments

Surveying it all is apartment 201 in Northgate House, one of a small number in a five-storey block at the corner of Kyrl’s Quay and North Main Street designed by architect Derek Tynan in the late 1990s, matched in scale and height across North Main Stret by what’s now a mixed-use building that includes the polished fossilised limestone-clad Arc/Gate Cinema.

Rather than pastiche, the design idea by Derek Tynan Architects (DTA), who were also very involved in Group 91 buildings in Dublin’s ‘concept’ Temple Bar back in the 1990s, was to give a modern take on entering a street of historic substance, and the two ‘related’ buildings contrast in their finishes and detailing.

Gate Cinema (now, the Arc) in 2018

While the Gate Cinema element got high-quality limestone and curtain wall glazing, Northgate House got a tall glazed entrance and plain white render which, as many Corkonians will recall, went through years of badly peeling paint before being smartened up finally a few years ago, only let down by an unimaginative presentation of anchor tenant Supermac’s/PapaJohn’s signage at the vital corner junction.

Right, Steve? At the Cork screening of Steve at The Arc were Max Porter, Alan Moloney, Cillian Murphy, Tim Mielants and Sounds from a Safe Harbour founder'director Mary Hickson.

Scanning the Lee, the quays, and city views up and down river is apartment 201 on the second floor of Northgate House, home to gallery owner Stephen O’Connell  since 2018 when he and his now wife Grace moved back to Cork from London, well-used to city living, and who have since embraced the burgeoning social and cultural enriching of Cork City’s old core on their return, from galleries to restaurants and bars.

Slick kitchen

The couple are now on the move again, but only west of the city, as Stephen opened the O’Connell Gallery in Clonakilty’s Ashe Street in 2023, showcasing the best of local and Irish art, craft, ceramics, textiles, and woodwork.

The O'Connell side of the family has a long and proud tradition in Cork furniture (O'Connells on Lavitts Quay just downriver of Kyrl's Quay made exceptional pieces, including Cork eleven bar chairs). Grace's maternal family roots are around Sands Cove and Duneen outside Clonakilty, so it's a second return of sorts for the couple.

As they go on a next home hunt in West Cork they’ve put their present two-bed, one en suite apartment in Northgate House for sale with estate agent Jeremy Murphy, who guides the walk-in order urban retreat at €245,000, noting it had recent upgrades in 2022, which included triple glazing with external laminated glass for noise reduction, has advanced temperature control setting for electric heating, and has extra high 2.7m ceilings which enhance the neutral decor.

Thanks to owners Stephen and Grace’s furniture and art collection, it feels as different as possible to a ‘standard’ apartment or rental, but if an investor wants to buy, it could yield €2,200 per month or €26k a year, says Mr Murphy, as he launches just in the run-up to Christmas and with timely festivities on the city streets.

It's a wrap: view to Shandon Steeple under wraps from 201 Northgate House

On the time front, the elegant Cork grandfather clock isn’t an option to buy at No 201, but the apartment does have views to Shandon’s four-faced liar clocks which are undergoing restoration by expert Philp Stokes, who also made the gilded clock on a solicitors’ offices facing Northgate House on the other side of the North Gate Bridge.

Let No 201 float your boat by The Arc cinema

VERDICT: Refreshing mix of beautiful old and new at No 201, and if you like the look, there’s always the vendors’ O’Connell Gallery in Clonakily to browse for contemporary ‘Buy Irish’ replacements.