Glasheen Road Edwardian home of two UCC academics is on the market for €635,000

HERE’S a sense of into the mystic at Dunowen, a sanctuary of contemplation and learning on the Glasheen Road, where two UCC scholars inspected, investigated and interpreted the merits and meaning of medieval art and history and the Spanish Golden Age.

Each of these two intellectual powerhouses had their own library at Dunowen, where book titles and religious iconography give an insight into what it was that made their cultured minds tick. 

The Venerable Bede, a 7th century English monk, author and scholar, was high on the list of priorities. So too was Byzantine art, medieval race relations, the lives of saints and the Bible.

Given the weighty subject matter and sheer volume of tomes, it seems fitting the couple would have the distinction of being recognised by the Royal Irish Academy, a learned society whose members are chosen for their contributions to scholarship and research.

The couple, now deceased, bought Dunowen in 1987 and completed their academic work there while raising their children.

 The house, an understated gem, was a magnet for writers and scholars and it’s probably fair to say that social occasions lay somewhere between think tank and dinner party.

Dunowen seems perfect for a couple of academics raising a family, with its Edwardian poise and proximity to UCC, which is just minutes away on foot (there is off-street parking, if you need it).

It wasn’t always a family home, though, according to selling agent Lawrence Sweeney, of Savills. He says the 1901 build was once a boarding house – which would explain the eight bedrooms – with female-only boarders and a strict curfew (shades of Saoirse Ronan’s lodgings in the movie Brooklyn, when she first arrived in New York, to a boarding house presided over by a caustic landlady).

He says: “It was your typical old-fashioned boarding house, with lots of house rules,” adding that it was the likely digs of student nurses training at the nearby Bon Secours Hospital.

Because Dunowen still has eight bedrooms, it may attract investors, given there’s a ready-made student rental market on the doorstep. As it has been owner/occupied since 1987, a rent cap does not apply.

It would seem a pity, though, to risk turning it into some kind of frat house when it has been a home where learning was revered. Perhaps next-generation academics will be tempted given the ready-made libraries and studies and the short walk to UCC? Or maybe medics at the Bons or Cork University Hospital will carpe diem?

“It’s a no-brainer, really, if you work in either UCC or the Bons. You can walk to work,” Mr Sweeney adds.

If a family buys it, he anticipates the knocking of walls to reduce the number and increase the size of bedrooms.

He envisages changes to the rear too – Dunowen has a large west-facing back garden so, if new owners wanted to do more with the kitchen/dining room, there’s great space to play with.

The garden itself, enclosed by mature trees and hedging, is the perfect barbecue garden.

The house, a detached three-storey home, is a generous 213 sq m with four bedrooms on each of the top two floors, albeit there isn’t a bathroom on the top floor. There’s good opportunity to create one by replacing one of the bedrooms.

In 2015, a new guest WC and wetroom were installed on the ground floor, along with a new pantry/utility and a new combi-gas-fired central heating system (the energy efficiency rating isn’t great, it’s an ‘F’).

The ground floor also includes a living room, sitting room (both reception rooms have generous Edwardian bay windows), a spacious study and a kitchen/dining area.

Mr Sweeney says Dunowen holds “massive potential, including options for home offices”.

He adds that it’s presented in very good condition and its location is “second to none, only 400m from UCC, 550m from the Bons Secours Hospital, 1.5km from Cork University Hospital and just 1.7km from Cork city centre”.

Whoever buys Dunowen will acquire a lovely period home with lots of original features including cornicing and mouldings, architraves, floor tiles, doors, window shutters, high ceilings and ornate fireplaces (there are 10!).

The guide price for this handsome house, steeped in academia, is €635,000.

VERDICT: Too good to waste on cavalier students. Graceful Edwardian property in mature, residential neighbourhood. Ideal family-forever home.