House of the Week: Ballinlough house on wedge-shaped site for sale for first time since it was built

More than seven decades old, this Dunmore Lawn semi-d is attracting plenty attention with bidding already underway

Marianella, Dunmore Lawn

Ballinlough, Cork city
€465,000 (under higher offer)
Size	117sq m (1,250sq ft)
Bedrooms	3
Bathrooms	1
BER	E1

There's a strong sense of family history at the suburban semi-detached Marianella, on a large and lovely garden plot, between Ballinlough Rd and Boreenmanna Rd in Cork City.

The just-built Marianella had been moved into by a newly married couple in 1954, the first Marian Year, and one which inspired a range of religious events in Ireland as well as the building of numerous shrines and the placing of numerous statues of Mary.

On a more secular front, 1954 was also the year the Irish government announced that Cork’s first airport would be built on the hill crowning Ballygarvan south of the city, and also the year Tayto crisps were first produced.

The couple lived here happily for 69 years, rearing a family of five, and following passings in 2024 it’s now for sale for the first time ever. It’s ready and willing to serve a new family, as keen on the ace location as on the gardens and its further prospects — little wonder it’s already under strong offer, with two early competing bidders pushing it well past its modest launch level of €465,000.

On a wedge-shaped site with mature garden and a detached garage, Marianella is on a bend in the sloping hill/estate called Dunmore Lawn, a mix of detached and semi-detached 1950s homes, just to the eastern side of the 1938-built Church of Our Lady of Lourdes, extending out of the older Blackrock parish.

The quite standard issue three-bed/two reception room semi-d is listed with estate agent Mark Rose of Rose Property Services who says his first viewings have been to a mix, from better off first-time buyers to downsizers: his online bidding record visibly shows two registered bidders kicking things off since the start of this month, starting at €525,000 (so already €60k over the AMV) and rising to €540,000 by the middle of this week with viewing requests still coming in.

“The garden is a big draw for most, it allow lots of potential for extension,” Mr Rose observes, adding that the family who spent so many decades in situ here later built the detached garage with a pitched roof well-removed from the dwelling. Thus, there’s lots of room to add to the side and back of Marianella without even having to integrate/adapt or remove the garage.

Already done also by this home’s long-time owners is an older-style attic room conversion, reached from the first floor landing via an open tread staircase which lets light through. As it doesn’t meet building regs to be described as a bedroom, the selling agent lists its possibilities for use as a home office, study, or storage. Done too in recent years is underpinning work, with completion certs available on this E1 rated 1,250sq ft build.

The house next door of this semi-d pairing, called Beaufort, has already been very significantly extended to the side and back and upgraded since it changed hands back about six years ago: Beaufort shows on the Price Register as having sold in 2020 in a more original state for a recorded €310,000.

Meanwhile, the same register shows three of the seven Dunmore Lawn resales in the past 15 years tipping over €500,000 (some likely to have been detacheds) and the most recent is No 15 Dunmore Lawn, registered at €560,000 just last month.

Marianella is on a slight bend within the linking road/estate that is Dunmore Lawn and is on the outer side of that bend, giving it its extra wide/wedge-shaped grounds, put at 0.12 of an acre (an eighth of an acre) by Mark Rose who describes it as “a three-bedroom semi-detached on a generous corner site with ample potential to extend, subject to planning permission".

Given its chicane-like curves and slope, Dunmore Lawn is less trafficked than the steeper nearby Willow Lawn which also links Ballinlough Rd to Boreenmanna Rd, giving yet more options for city centre access, and Marianella’s rear boundary wall is of old limestone, originally part of the Thornhill House estate.

The dad living at Marianella had worked for the Department of Posts and Telegraphs, at the GPO in the city, and was able to walk in and out of work, coming home for lunch, reveals Mr Rose adding that this former family home offers “bright, well-proportioned living spaces complemented by a detached garage, with a large, mature, well-maintained garden, to the front, rear and side of the house”.

VERDICT: Much loved home, on generous mature gardens, in a suburb well serviced with schools, public parks, public transport, sports amenities, shops, cafes, and close enough to walk into and out of the city centre for work and entertainment, or just scoot home for lunch.