A €650k historic semi-detached home on Cork's Castle Road
There will be a 200th anniversary in a few years’ time near No 2 Castle View: The adjacent, iconic, and emblematic Cork City landmark, Blackrock Castle, was completed in 1829, after fire damaged the earlier structure, with prior defensive structures on Lough Mahon guarding access to the Leeside city since the 16th century.Coincidentally, fire also played a part in the history of the pairing of 19th century Castle View, with Nos 1 and 2 said to have been “burned to the ground” by the IRA in May 1921 — later rebuilt to how they are today, as No 2 Castle View now comes for sale with a €650,000 AMV.The period-style home, with some 1,590 sq ft over three levels and with a south-aspected back garden and off-road parking, is but a stone’s throw from Blackrock Castle on picturesque Castle Road, lined as it is by 18th, 19th, 20th, and 21st century houses, from terraces to villas, mini-mansions and semi-ds, and from cottages to, well, literally, castles.Ambling out Castle Road is a much-loved activity for active Corkonians, who may go on to do the ring of the Mahon peninsula, having done the Marina walks, too, perhaps, and admiring Castle Road’s private dwellings — perhaps even dreaming of living in one — is almost de rigueur.Be warned, though, values can vary, from the ‘almost’ affordable to the likes of the €2.1m paid for the graceful Georgian gem, called Riverside, with rear lane access in 2024.Historian Diarmuid Ó Drisceoil has documented many of Castle Rd’s more engaging houses in his The Ring of Blackrock: A Walking Guide & History, whose cover is a black-and-white image of a thronged village by the pier taken in 1910 (pic, right)... a bit like on an average sunny Sunday morning now, when the market stalls are out and jointed.In his best-selling local history, Ó Drisceoil notes the IRA’s May 2, 1921 burning of the two houses, called Castle View, as being officially linked to the description of one resident, a Mrs Maude Jacobs, as a ‘loyalist,’ while the other was the home of a Mr Hirst Simpson.The upshot is the replacement duo now have roots to the 1920s, named in honour of the crenelated castle just along the road to the east and which has been a very popular restaurant and observatory for the past 20 years.Selling agent Malcolm Tyrrell, of Cohalan Downing, says No 2’s caring owners have also had this semi-detached house for about 20 years, as an investment property, but adds, “They minded it like it was their own home, and it has been rented to really appreciative tenants, including a Ukrainian family for a while”.First viewings were lined up for this week — nine on day one alone — and there’s been a lot of demand for visits to follow, too, says Mr Tyrrell, stressing: “It’s in really good shape.”He continues: “This remarkable period residence represents a rare opportunity to acquire a home overlooking the River Lee in one of Cork’s most distinguished addresses. This fine home combines traditional elegance with modern efficiency in a splendid location.”No 2 Castle Lane is bounded on the village side by a high stone wall as part of a short cul-de-sac lane serving four, older-era houses, and it has parking on this lane for two cars, plus a rear pedestrian gate access to its private gardens. No house overlooks them.Those gardens are mature, with a sunny patio at the back of the house by a shared annexe holding a bathroom on the upper level, and a slender kitchen on the ground level. Many people coming to view will be looking at add-on/glazed options here to take advantage of the aspect and green garden view, with seven broad steps from patio to the garden proper.Round the front, the Castle View pair are slightly set back from the public path and road, have old stone-wall and cast-iron railings, with the address/legend ‘Castle View’ on an old nameplate in a central pillar between the two ornate cast-iron gates.No 1 Castle View has an older, more Georgian-looking period five-bay house attached on its left hand side: The 1920s-built nos 1 and 2 are broadly similar to one another, looking to be double storey with double-height square bays, but each has good attic rooms for a third floor.No 2 has pretty much all of its original timber sliding sash windows in place. The front door is original, as are the hall tiles in cream and terracotta hues.Right of the hall is the main reception room, with Victorian fireplace and with ornate insert tiling in a cast-iron surround. The bay window is elegant and there’s a coved ceiling and picture rail.A midship’s guest WC separates the front reception room and a small, rear dining room that has patio doors, and the fairly modern kitchen is in the rear annex, also with a glazed door to the patio.A carpeted stairs with original handrails and sturdy, ornate newel posts goes to the next level, with a main bathroom that has a bath on the return, and the main bedroom — with en suite and shower — is to the front, with bay window, River Lee and Tivoli views, and glimpses of the castle a few hundred metres away.Alongside a front-facing, narrow room (useful as an office or nursery?), this main bedroom has a Victorian fireplace and “it could be lovely to turn this back in to a first-floor reception room”, says Cohalan Downing’s Mr Tyrrell.Another bedroom is to the rear, with garden views, while a second run of stairs goes to the second/attic level, where there are two attractive rooms, both with good-sized Veluxes in sloping ceilings and one of the two has a gable window for additional interest. There’s also a bathroom up on this top level, with shower, meaning WCs on all three levels.The c.100-year old No 2 Castle View has gas-fired central heating, original timber-frame sash glazing, and E1 BER, and can be bought and enjoyed just as is, or gently worked on in the near to mid-future, as any fortunate new owner may wish. That’s as their funds might permit, because despite a cautious €650,000 AMV, it’s likely to sell for €700k-plus, given its overall condition, authenticity, location, setting (neighbours on Castle Rd include Munster and Ireland rugby legend Peter O’Mahony and family), aspect, and views.For comparison’s sake, a larger Victorian semi-d nearby and even closer to Blackrock Castle, called Mahon View (originally titled Riversdale) on three-quarters of an acre and which featured here last summer with a €850,00 AMV, was bid to over €900,000 (via agent Tim Sullivan).Swimming from the pier at Blackrock. 17/09/1936 Meanwhile, at the Blackrock village end of salubrious Castle Road, finishing work is just being done to the only house on the water side, a high-end new-build below the road, on the grounds of a historic hotel/leisure property called Brighton House, by Cork Boat Club, once the site of a public swimming-baths complex.The dramatically-sited waterside property, associated with the Keohane family, who had development plans for the boat club back in the frothy 2000s, is likely to have cost well north of €1m to deliver, given the civil engineering needed to create access down the embankment.
VERDICT: Castle Road is one of Cork’s loveliest stretches of road, back on the crest of a wave.
