Inside Carrigbawn House: Historic Victorian Cork home on Blackrock Road hits market for €1.3m

Historic Blackrock Road home combines Victorian character, mature gardens, and a remarkable story spanning more than a century

Carrigbawn, Blackrock Road, Cork

Blackrock Road, Cork city.
€1.3m
Size	236 sq m (2540 sq ft)
Bedrooms	4
Bathrooms	3
BER	E1

If you were handed the keys to a time machine and your destination was the storied Carrigbawn House on Blackrock Rd, which era would you choose to visit?

Victorian splendor (Late 1800s): Would you go back to see the house in its original, pristine glory, with its architectural detail and high-society lifestyle of Cork’s merchant class, before the 20th century changed everything?

Revolutionary rescue (Early 1920s): Would you intervene during the Irish War of Independence to save the house from being burned down?

Property bargain (2001): Or would you take the practical route and travel back to the start of the millennium to buy this grand, four-bedroom, detached home for a price that might not even cover a small apartment in today’s market?

Carrigbawn featured in Property in March 2001 

Carrigbawn House is a masterclass in Victorian elegance, but it is the living architecture of the wisteria that distinguishes it.

The centerpiece of the home’s exterior is the first-floor balcony, the primary stage for the wisteria, which flourishes in May when there’s a waterfall of scented, pale lavender and violet racemes.

The owners say the wisteria was already in place at the side, when they bought the house in 2002 and they say “we just trained it along the front and onto the balcony”.

Low-impact conservatorship has been their approach. They are proud that they made only minimal changes, such as triple-glazed windows in the original style: “All the doors and floors are as they were. We really didn’t change that much. We didn’t knock through walls or anything. The kitchen is original, too. We painted it, of course, but kept it as it was.”

That sense of custodianship also carried through to the gardens where they modestly say: “That was all planted when we came and we just nursed them along. We’ve done our best not to interfere with too much and just kept it.”

They did install four bee hives to provide honey for family and friends. The hives will be rehomed in the area: “There are lots of beautiful gardens and flowers locally, which the bees benefited from. It really suits them here.”

The family are downsizing now that their sons are grown.

“We love the area and there are great neighbours and friends and the new Marina Promenade is just fabulous, too, so we’re not going far.”

The house was a happy family home for the past two decades, with children’s parties and trampolines on the front lawn and family gatherings of around 40 people at a time.

“The kitchen is where we spent a lot of time. It’s very cosy, we added a pellet stove, and that’s where the children would have done their homework some years ago.”

Home of CJ Young, Carrigbawn, Blackrock Road burned on April 9, 1921 Source: Militaryarchives.ie 

Go back 100 years and they were more troubled times. In 1921, the house was occupied by a Charles J Young, a unionist businessman, who was manager of the Clyde Shipping Company. He attracted the ire of the IRA, who turned up in the middle of an April night to order him and the other occupants of the house out onto the Blackrock Rd. They then dowsed the villa with petrol and set it alight — that burning was the fifth in the area in a single week.

The house, near Cleve Hill and Richmond Estate on the Blackrock Rd, ‘rose from the ashes’ and was rebuilt in the 1930s. It was on the market in 1994 for around £150k (€190,000) and again in 2001, for €400k. This time around the guide is €1.3m.

Everything, from the stained-glass front door and the herringbone parquet flooring in the hall, sets the tone for Carrigbawn. Ten-feet high ceilings, decorative coving, and deep bay windows all add up to a spacious and bright home that has a good sense of its own history.

At the back of the house, the dining room has French double doors leading to a patio and onto the back lawn.

The property is partly bounded at the rear by high fencing and shrubs. Beyond, there is a drop of more than 15m to commercial properties on Monahan Rd.

The boundary to the front is rather more salubrious — hefty stone walls with wrought-iron fencing.

Passersby may be familar with the stone fonts embedded in the walls, as well as with the adjacent McCarthy’s Folly monument.

Upstairs, all four bedrooms are generous doubles and the main bedroom has an open fireplace and an en-suite bathroom.

Linking the rooms is an almost room-sized landing — it houses artwork, bookcases, and an inviting-looking armchair — with double French doors opening onto that wisteria-clad, sunny, south-facing balcony and looking out over the mature trees of the front garden.

The upper back rooms all have sweeping views above Centre Park Rd and across to Montenotte.

“This house has elegant proportions, mature gardens, and heritage, with a distinct sense of seclusion created by the mature trees and substantial stone boundary walls,” says Stuart O’Grady of Sherry FitzGerald.

He also praises the location, which is “close to everything”. That includes several primary schools within walking distance, a nearby city-Mahon Point bus stop, several pubs, a pharmacy, local shop, and deli — and the Atlantic Pond, Marina Park and Marina Promenade. There’s convenient access to two boat clubs and two tennis clubs, with secondary schools close by and in the city centre.

VERDICT: A supremely attractive house that blends cosiness and formal architecture, with a bonus of several welcoming patios and romantic, slightly ‘secret’ gardens. Here’s hoping new owners will maintain and cherish it for many more years.