well launched €545,000 period Cork house is picture pretty

Pure Cork – this is Audley Place, where a late Georgian house, No 2, has come up for sale, steeped in original features and with sweeping views over the city’s valleys and iconic spiers of the church from its facade.

Audley Place is the plateau at the top of St Patrick’s Hill, a steep hike from the town centre, over Bell’s Field and Richmond Hill, with that classic view west over the Blackpool Valley, to St Anne’s Shandon, the Goldie Fish upstairs, and the North Cathedral, with all the hustle and bustle of city life below.

The Landscape View was painted 270 years ago by artist John Butts in the much-loved View of Cork City from Audley Place, now in the care of the Crawford Art Gallery since 2005. It is one of the most popular works in the entire collection. , and the fictionalized topography hasn’t changed much in the meantime.

The same Bell’s Field set has played a starring role in The Young Offenders on more than one occasion and was the scene of a particularly awkward teenage change/kiss scene between Conor and Linda (Alex Murphy and Demi Isaac Oviawe in real life). Fans will visit, and locals and visitors relax, sit, and even move around with Cork’s panoply before them from this elevated perch.

Views become even more focused and framed through the windows of Georgian houses in Audley Place, built in the first half of the 1800s for the
officer class at nearby Cork Barracks, renamed Victoria Barracks in 1849 after a visit to Cork by Queen Victoria. It was renamed again after the Revolutionary War and Civil War as Collins Barracks, with the Ministry of Defense still controlling a significant bank of land to the east of Audley Place, along and on both sides from the Old Youghal Road near the CBC sports grounds.

No 2 Audley Place hits the market in April, with an AMV of €545,000 quoted by estate agent Patricia Stokes, and is something of a period piece in its own right, mid-terrace with – mostly – private rear gardens, with gated access for residents of the terrace on Old Youghal Road.

Ms Stokes says she takes an immediate interest in it, because of the location, the look and views, the size, the extra reach and the grounds to the rear, all of which combine to make it ideal for urban family life, in a period property with garden.

The National Inventory of Architectural Heritage describes Audley Place as “a fine terrace of elegant mid-19th century houses, designed with classical symmetry underlined by the fine Doric door surrounds”, noting that it was built as a terrace new: perhaps has been extended? , for there are 11 in all, with Nos. 10 and 11 being the largest and double-fronted. They share similar features, such as square-headed door surrounds, molded plaster window surrounds, stone sills, and six-over-six wooden sliding sash windows.

Some are now more original than others, but most have wooden windows, the sash ones painted bright red in the case of No. 2, and several others have fine barbs of Virginia creeper or English ivy. Boston.

Resales here seem fairly rare, and the price record only shows one in over a decade, in the case of #2 itself, which released in 2018 with an AMV of €420,000. . It appears on the price register in 2019 as having fetched €432,000 after bidding among competing house hunters.

The previous owner had been here for several decades and was trained as an artist, and her buyers, now her sellers, also have a background in the broader field of arts and antiques. They have continued the care and gentle movement of No. 2 and have not knocked it down and risk losing the essential charm and architectural details – it still has the elusive patina of age.

Trish Stokes checks the name of period trim details such as baseboards, doors, architraves, fireplaces, cornices and picture rails, as well as high ceilings, and says the layout is adaptable, with a possibility four or five bedrooms and accommodation on three floors, with skylights at the top.

As it has an east-west aspect, the bedrooms have the choice of sunrises or sunsets from the upper floors, and “the hidden treasure of an extensive enclosed lawned garden to the rear is one that will particularly appeal when it is coupled with private rear access for vehicles,” adds Ms. Stokes.

There is a front reception room with two west facing windows with small panes and a stone fireplace

Double doors lead to a kitchen with slate flooring, done by the current owners with oversized heavy slate and freestanding antique units, Belfast ceramic sink and large old cast iron cooker, with old meat hooks on the ceiling .

One side, long hall/corridor, part wood and part terracotta, runs front to back from the sturdy old front door to a glazed rear door opening into an enclosed courtyard and whitewashed for the morning sun. The lawn/garden is a little further beyond, with its rear-lane access.

There are three rooms on the first floor, and two/three others in the attic (one is simply partitioned), as well as two bathrooms with bathtubs, one on one of the bedrooms, and, again, several bedrooms, have original chimneys, including in the main front with the update ‘ View of Cork from Audley Place’.

No 2 has gas central heating and a number of old style Victorian cast iron radiators; as the terrace houses are protected structures, there is no need for BER.

For future buyers, they will be attracted by the originality and feel, but will probably have to spend more at some point. How much extra work, and when, may be discretionary for those looking for an older townhouse, with very high price results currently seen in similar highly accessible locations such as St Luke’s, Mardyke, North Mall, Victoria Road , and the Sunday well.

VERDICT: This special location in Cork City has been highly prized and lauded for centuries.