Imaginative owners and smart design at €740k Cork city home 

While the owner is not an architect, her grandfather was and the approach she took to her own home suggests a knack for the kind of problem-solving architects are good at.

9 Hazel Hill, Maryborough Ridge, Cork

Cork City
€740,000
Size	155sq m (1,668sq ft)
Bedrooms	4
Bathrooms	4
BER	A1

The personality traits you might associate with an architect — creativity, persistence, an aptitude for spatial reasoning — have filtered down through two generations to the owner of No 9 Hazel Hill, high up on Maryborough Ridge.

While she is not an architect, her grandfather was and the approach she took to her own home suggests a knack for the kind of problem-solving architects are good at.

Rather than settling for a builder’s kitchen with PC allowance, she went down the bespoke route and worked with Midleton-based O’Driscoll Kitchens.

“We knew early on what we wanted, so that helped,” she says.

What they wanted was an island, a tea/coffee station with fold-away doors, an extractor fan over the island-based hob, and a hardwood kitchen.

Because of the kitchen’s size and shape, a peninsula worked better than a freestanding island, but the owner did get her tea station with fold-away doors. A false ceiling was installed over the hob to house the extractor fan. A mirrored splashback adds depth and is the next best thing to ‘eyes in the back of your head’ for parents. The overall look is sleek.

In the living room — open plan to kitchen/dining — a long radiator was removed to free up wall space and a plinth heater installed in the recess beneath built-in storage drawers, which are topped with a continuous timber bench for additional seating. The freed-up wall space meant room to install a TV. The drawers, bench, and utility (with sink) were all custom made by O’Driscoll Kitchens, who also built a cabinet to conceal pipework in the utility.

The owner’s visual imagination (handy for her career in web development) came in to play upstairs, too: A “wasted” space at the end of the bath in the main bathroom is now a multi-functional storage unit.

Outside in the south-facing rear garden, she worked with garden experts Perennial Landscapes to create a low-maintenance, child-friendly, tiered garden, with patio. Some greenery around the heat pump — ubiquitous in the gardens of new estates — has softened the visual impact, without restricting airflow. “I’m no gardener, but it looks good,” the owner says.

Back indoors, there are high ceilings, wraparound glazing in the front room and rear family room, a balcony off the main bedroom, and a best-in-class A1 energy rating, aided by 17 solar panels (and low utility bills).

A great deal of thought went into just about everything at No 9 Hazel Hill, a generous, 155sq m detached four-bed in a niche development of 21 units, on the upper rim of Maryborough Hill, with a rural backdrop, but close-to-city convenience, including a 24-hour bus service, quick access to Douglas village, schools, and the South Ring Rd.

Jeremy Murphy, of Jeremy Murphy & Associates, says the reaction has been “very positive”.

“It’s a stunning property and we are mainly seeing families looking to trade up,” he says, adding that his favourite feature is the bedroom balcony with terrific Cork City views.

The price for No 9 is €740,000.The owners are relocating closer to their roots.

VERDICT: A good example of smart design, as befits a home owned by two web developers.