Copyright irishexaminer
NOT only is the asking price on this property oddity among the lowest in the Cork market right now at €45,000, you also get two properties (ahem) for the price of one… Set directly facing Bell’s Field at the top of St Patrick’s Hill and for sale with Karl O’Reilly of Savills are nos 4 & 5 Old Youghal Road, an architecturally curious mix of ornate red-brick and cast iron rail-topped frontage, with little behind its façade – just 215 sq ft, or a mere 20 sq metres. Used for years as a store, they adjoin Bell’s coffee and cake shop which opened in 2023, are near an architect’s office on Richmond Hill – and may very well test the mettle of some innovative architect to find a new use for it, as an office, studio, niche shop or even create a teeny, tiny home? Dig down, go up a tad? Lovers of Cork’s quirks will know Bell’s Field for its setting some 200’ above sea level, via a precipitous climb of St Patrick’s Hill with its west-facing views to Shandon, others will know it from the cover image setting of short story maestro Frank O’Connor’s childhood account in An Only Child, and other will know it as a snogging spot thanks to its role in Young Offenders. VERDICT: For whom the bell tolls? “Full of promise for creative adaptation” says Savills Karl O’Reily of this city toe-hold.
