Is €475k an entry level price for Cork’s ‘Golden Mile?’

A CHANCE to live on Cork city’s ‘Golden Mile’ has come along in the shape of a lovely end-terrace 1930s home in Ballintemple – the home parish of Oscar-winning actor and local-boy-made-good Cillian Murphy.

The local post office marked his Academy Award win by painting the letter box outside gold to match the statuette: that post office last week celebrated its 100th anniversary and the 25th anniversary of postmistress Colette Collins, third generation in the post service, taking on a role previously filled by her

mother Imelda and by an aunt.

And, before Colette’s golden moment, just on the other side of No 10 Ardfoyle Place, which is now for sale, is a period, bow-fronted home which its owners have painted gold … to match one of their cars. As you do.

Even without these golden novelty ‘bookends,’ No 10 is on its own golden stretch of suburbia, the main Blackrock Road, between the city and Blackrock village, in the very heart of Ballintemple – it’s as good an address as you’ll get around town.

Across the road are bars like Longboats and The Venue, as well as Basil deli, a shop and the post office. There are small, terraced cottages too (originally built for labourers at Beaumont/Carrigmore quarry) where a demolition job revealed a rare roof thatch under slate.

Some 500 metres or so away as the sliotar flies is Páirc Ui Chaoimh, with the Marina and Atlantic Pond fringing the GAA stadium also getting its own council-initiated upgrades, a vital city green lung for the future.

Freshly up for sale is No 10 Ardfoyle Place, Edwardian in style and one of Cork’s more interesting long terraces to stop and admire thanks to its architectural detailing and deft design touches, many of them intact along its length. No 10’s at the city end, and both the city and Blackrock village are a pleasant walk, in opposite directions, and there’s a bus stop outside for those who want all city conveniences on the doorstep.

For those still hung up on cars, there’s access to a rear lane and No 10 has private, off-street parking along this, plus a garden. It is set back from the street at the front, with a pleasant porch, and has original features such as the front door, with a circular window on the top half.

Internally, too, many original features have been retained, while an upgrade likely to have been done by the current owners is a superb floor at ground level in polished hardwood herringbone, with inlay trim. It extends from the hall into the front reception room, where there’s an ornate fireplace with stove, and into the rear kitchen too.

The selling agent is Brian Olden, of Cohalan Downing, who sold No 10 to its current owners about 20 years ago and says they’ve kept it extremely well. He guides it at €475,000 and adds that he sold No 3 in the same terrace about two years ago. No 3 shows on the Price Register at €483,000, while No 8 sold in 2021 for a recorded €400,000. No 1 sold in 2016 at €420,000 and No 9 the following year for €360,000.

No 10 is a three-bed home of just over 1,100 sq ft and it has a D2 BER, about par for the period.

It has a plaque on the terrace dating Ardfoyle Place to 1932.

Construction was by a Timothy Walsh, with design by a Bartholomew O’Flynn, according to the Buildings of Ireland architectural archive which describes the terrace as comprising five pairs of two-storey houses. It also notes that “the retention of the front doors and other notable exterior elements has allowed for the overall design and original character of the terrace to remain.” VERDICT: The terrace has been a golden thread in the fabric of Ballintemple village for the best part of a century.