Hamptons-style living at €975k Kimberley on Crosshaven's Camden Road

A glass-walled extension gives a wide-angled view over most of Cork Harbour 

Homes on the Crosshaven headland could give the Hamptons a run for its money

Crosshaven, Co Cork
€975,000
Size	194 sq m (2088 sq ft)
Bedrooms	3
Bathrooms	2
BER	E1

GIVEN the built-up residential strip that Camden Rd is today, it’s hard to imagine it as a windswept headland, but that’s how it was in the 1900s, when the house featured here was one of just three homes on the approach to Camden Fort.

The British Board of Ordnance’s sharp elbows restricted civilian developments near strategic points like Camden Fort, but they did allow houses for their own military staff, in this case a detached home and a pair of semi-ds. Kimberley, as it is known today, was the single larger home and it’s in as sweet a spot as you could wish for. As the British were no slouches about taking what they liked, they chose “the best site on the road”, say Kimberley’s owners, Dick and Sue Gibson.

The view from the “new room” at Kimberley vindicates the Gibsons’ claim.

The "new room" at Kimberley

Added 40 years ago to the seaward side of the house — and still referred to as ‘new’ to distinguish it from the original build — it has two glass walls that frame the full sweep of the bay. You can see upriver as far as the scenic, sheltered bend of the Owenabue River at Drake’s Pool, and, panning east, the oil refinery at Whitegate, several kilometres away.

Directly across the bay, beyond the distinctive silhouettes of Spike and Haulbowline Islands, the town of Cobh zigzags upwards along ridges that rise behind the unmistakable Gothic face of St Colman’s Cathedral.

The town of Cobh is visible across the bay

 On a calm night, when the harbour is smooth as glass, the lights of the town travel across the water to Crosshaven, Dick says.

Sunset at Kimberley

From the “new” room, he points out other landmarks: The lush landscape of East Ferry, down river from Cobh, and Monkstown, to the west, where he grew up.

Dick’s entire life has played out around the harbour, from its Monkstown beginnings, to managing water-skimming Blackrock Castle Hotel in its heyday as a premier celebration venue for generations of Cork families, to managing the Grand Hotel in Crosshaven, where he met Sue Jermyn, his future wife. Along the way, he teamed up with Crosshaven-based brothers John and Des McWilliam in the seminal days of McWilliam Sailmakers (he ended up a director), producing both high-performance racing sails, as well as the durable bags that have evolved from sailor’s staple to must-have accessory, with an ever-expanding range under new owners, Barry Hayes and Claire Morgan.

In the past 25 years, Dick has kept himself busy with yacht management and boat restoration. Idleness was never part of his DNA, as reflected in a 1994 feature in the Irish Examiner, when now (semi) retired property editor Tommy Barker called to Kimberley as part of a series highlighting homes of particular interest to readers. 

Kimberley as it is today. The two semi-ds that it shared the road with in the 1900s are to the right

The feature revealed that when Dick had bought Kimberley, in the 1970s, it was in a dire state, riddled with rot and woodworm. It was a very different house then, with a different name.

“When it came up for sale, there were two sisters living in it, known as the Livingstones. It was called Coolbeg at the time, and it was a three-up, three-down house,” says Dick.

A skilled handyman, he gutted it, knocking down internal walls and tackling the rot problem by installing RSJs (rolled steel joists). The main living area was transformed in to a generous, 30’ x 16’ split-level room, divided by a staircase, separating dining from a comfortable lounge. 

Sunken Lounge

An old pine dresser was reworked by carpenter/sailmaker Paul Keal into a striking piece of cabinetry, blending dresser with presses and bookshelves. 

Paul also crafted dummy recess shutters for the window reveals, adding to the cosy cottage feel.

In the kitchen, he did more masterful work, installing an atrium roof light in 2008, designed by Jim Barry, from Waterfall, who also supplied the timber. 

It came in three parts. With its upward view of the sky, it’s a stunning focal point, while, on a practical level, it allows in a great deal of natural light and also adds volume to the room.

The same Jim Barry is responsible for the Colombian red pine ceiling beams in the “new room”, described as “beautiful-hued timber” in the 1994 feature, a richness that has endured.

 He also both supplied the teak and made the external stairway to the balcony.

The balcony followed on from a second major extension to Kimberley in 2000, when Twomey Construction returned for the work, a dozen years after building the ‘new room”. That earlier extension was designed by the late Bill Brady, of WH Hill & Co, one of Cork city’s longest-serving architects, who died last year.

The second extension focused on the upstairs, where a new principal bedroom with a curved wall, a glut of windows, and outstanding views was built above the “new room”, while the original bedroom was reconfigured in to a walk-in dressing room and adjoining shower room.

Today, the principal bedroom offers a variety of ways to enjoy the outlook: From the deep bay window, from the balcony/deck — accessed via patio doors — or from the comfort of the bed.

 A wonderful, light-filled, relaxation space, it feels more like a private suite than a conventional bedroom.

Curving the wall was a good move, as it not only enhanced the aesthetics, it added space to an adjoining bedroom, which also has double doors to the balcony.

There are three bedrooms in all off a roomy landing that includes a niche home office, brightly lit by a large window on the stair return.

Externally, the grounds have evolved gradually. After the outdoor stairs to the balcony was added, the couple installed a pergola outside the glass wall of the ‘new room’, soon to be covered with clematis.

It’s a nicely landscaped space, gravelled and paved for low maintenance, shaded for sitting out.

The lawned garden unfolds in tiers below it, levelled out now (it was once quite a slope), with more sitting-out areas. Dick says it’s quite a suntrap, and gets sun well into the evening, as does the ‘new room’, which projects further than neighbouring properties.

Kimberely is “one of the few houses on Camden Rd on a double site” and has a detached garage that is in good shape, as well as outdoor parking for two cars.

From the main road, the garage is more prominent than the house itself, with its radiant, saffron, decorative fascia board salvaged from the Grand Hotel. Beside it, a pair of white-washed stone pillars flank a polished timber gate that leads to a side entrance to the kitchen. Once you’re through the gate, the view is so distracting that it’s quite likely you might bypass the house entirely.

The first glimpse of water through the front gate

 It’s the first real glimpse of what’s on offer at Kimberley and you could nearly sell the house on the promise of it.

Patricia Stokes, of Stokes Auctioneers, is selling the superb coastal home and she says because neighbouring properties are set slightly back on Camden Rd, Kimberley has “180° views”.

“As a result, views inside and outside this home extend from Drakes Pool, over Currabinny, across to Cobh and out to Whitegate.

“On a clear day, you can even see the Knockmealdown Mountains, on the Cork border with Waterford, and the Galtee Mountains, along the border with Tipperary,” Ms Stokes adds.

While the views are splendid, the 194 sq m three-bed is a treat, too, the agent says, highlighting the exceptional craftsmanship and the skillful blend of original features with the newer additions to the c 125-year-old property. Its age contributes to the E1 energy rating.

Kimberely, just down the road from Camden Fort Meagher, is in a neighbourhood growing in stature among house buyers. Below it, on Point Rd, is a series of homes on a par with what you might find in the Hamptons, built by prominent figures in the construction, aviation, and pharma sectors. It’s not, as yet, in danger of becoming another Kinsale, but property prices are climbing. Last year, two Camden Rd homes — Carrigdhoun and Drakes View — sold for more than €1m. Kimberley is guiding just below that, at €975,000.

VERDICT: You can have your biscuit and eat it at Kimberley, a charming coastal home where a glass walled extension frames incredible harbour views.