Fancy a berth on Cork Harbour's millionaires' row? €975k Horsehead home is a head-turner 

EVERYTHING comes in waves, and sometimes in cycles, cycles as long as a century, or even two.

On the current Cork crest of a wave of fashion are reservoir, riverside, dockland and estuary walks and cycles routes: they are now almost inexorably inching their way to the wider expanses of the enormous natural harbour basic beyond and its fringing communities, with a mix of walkways, greenways and blueways ribboning the natural amenity and connecting the Lee to sea.

This connection with promenading, cycling and boating repeats and updates the patterns of previous centuries. It is seen in harbour terms in a renaissance of residential demand for locations from Aghada, through Cobh and Crosshaven, and in a long ribbon also which not coincidentally includes Glenbrook, Monkstown and Passage West.

Back in the early to mid 1800s, as Cork expanded and as trade and commerce were its lifeblood, the lines connecting these dots on the harbour map were horse carriages and ‘jingles’ or small traps, expanding rail lines and hither and thither river ferry routes.

Today, Cobh (like Midleton) has an especially important lifeline thanks to the reinvigorated commuter rail service, one of the few Munster rail lines to survive the wholesale destruction of such a smart mode of the transport in the ‘modernising; 1960s, when the private motor car seemed to hold sway.

Meanwhile, on the other side of the water, Passage to Monkstown and point beyond to Crosshaven lost their rail service which ran from 1850 to 1932. But, fortunately, all was not entirely lost.

Much of the original line fringing the harbour is now ‘repurposed’ as an amenity walk and cycleway out from the city and Blackrock, and even took a huge jump in usage in the past 14 months due to Covid-19 pandemic restrictions which saw half the greater Cork region’s populace discover new joys on their doorstep, most notably its waterways.

That city to Monktown water-skirting route today runs along the perimeter of this quite notable mid 2000s niche residential development, called Horsehead, and where the absolutely pristine and high-end No 13 is freshly up for sale with a €975,000 AMV quoted by estate agent Michael McKenna, built in the grounds of a period ‘Tudor-bethan’ villa home called Horsehead House.

Horsehead was to have over a dozen very large luxury homes, aimed at a millionaire class …millionaires at least on paper, or borrowed to that tune, in those Tiger Times.

It was clearly modelled on the even more upmarket Abington scheme in Co Dublin’s Malahide (see below), as well as having ‘more affordable’ curving row of smaller townhouses as part of the mix at this water-aspected village site.

As it turns out, not all those planned got built. All of the big detacheds which had started out did get built and now fully finished out, with just the curve or crescent of townhouses left to go. That crescent is only now inching its way towards completion, after a decade of exposed blockwork, and is fully separated out from these far bigger modern mansions, on their landscaped and gated grounds.

Google Earth shows ten of these completed large detacheds (spanning c 3,000 sq ft to over 5,000 sq ft) at the already well-matured and expansively landscaped Horsehead, all anchored by the original Horsehead House which is lived in by the scheme’s developer, Meathman Tom McEntaggart.

That original Horsehead appears to be a steady work in progress, yet always picture-postcard beguiling. Its design is attributed to Sir Thomas and Kearns Deane, of the later celebrated Deane and Woodward architectural pairing, and its stepped gable frontage is copied in just one of the ten luxury Horsehead homes built here 10-15 years ago.

Among its previous owners was Major Richard Hingston, a naturalist, explorer and author, who was on the 1924 British Everest expedition which claimed the life of George Mallory, among his many other curiosity and adventure-driven expeditions and exploits, from Greenland to South America.

After he bought Horsehead House two decades ago, businessman Tom McEntaggert enlisted the design services of UK-based architects Melville Dunbar, who had at that stage made their mark in Dublin with the Abington scheme of 50 homes, which had been making waves in property and celebrity circles in those brasher times.

Among the buyers was one Ronan Keating, buying late in the day, and the Keating family home was sold again shortly after his marriage ended, making a reported €2.65m. In all, the Register shows 12 resales at Abinton, all at multi0million euro sort of sums.

Many of Abington’s dozens of ‘exclusive’ family homes were real McMansions, at up to and over 7,000 sq ft, notable for period elegance, mellow Belgian brick, slate roofs and quality material detailing and managing to get proportions appropriate to such large private homes.

Can you use the word ‘modest’ when describing homes or 3,000 sq ft and more?

Well, you can, ‘modest’ at least by contrast with Malahide’s 7,700 sq ft whoppers, and Cork’s take on a Dublin take on an British design trope (think Surrey. Essex or the like) has sizes ranging from 3,000 to ‘just’ 5,000 sq ft, with the largest Horsehead ones three-storey over basement, on large grounds, overlooking the waters of Cork harbour at the strongly tidal bend by Marino Point.

On their market launch around 2008, as the marked dipped lower than low tide in the Lee harbour and estuary alongside Cork’s Horsehead, price hopes had been from €1 million to €2 million: in fact, it’s understood that one of them resold before Price Register days for close to €2.5 million, a massive amount for the greater Cork area, back then, now or just about any other time too.

Prices since paid in Cork’s Horsehead are none too bashful or modest, even if short of ’08 sort of sums. The Register records eight transactions here, ranging from a site, Site 6 at €300,000 in 2012, and then from €633,000 for No 14 in 2016, to €1.001m for No 7, back in 2007, with most of the sales in the c €800k price bracket as new builds.

The most recent sale in the enclave was that of No 11 in 2017, at a reported €940,000, and it’s the first re-sale of a previously-owned home in this gated enclave: it made well above its AMV of €650,000 via agents ERA Downey McCarthy, up 50% on the low guide. Should any of the very biggest, waterfronting ones come along in the next while, well, they’ll be well into the €1.25m-€2m price band.

Just publicly launched now as summer beckons, to test Horsehead’s assured continuing good fortunes, is this c 3,000 sq ft example, listed as No 13, even though there are only ten houses here.

No 13 has been a lucky home for its departing vendors, a couple who bought into Horsehead over a decade ago, back in pre-Register days, and who are now moving back to the city, aiming to build a smaller contemporary home in the suburbs.

They say they’ve loved been down here, by the water in what they say is a village setting, with local services, from shops and schools to the local butcher, and they relish the adjacent amenity walkway.

One of the couple works in the new office cluster in Mahon and regularly cycles to and from there along the old railway line, mixing short commute times with good health benefits, and an ever-changing connection to marine life from birds to boats.

Not surprisingly, it’s top quality from top to bottom, with its warm-looking exterior graced by pale yellow Belgian brick on the top half, banded render below, and fitted through with expensive painted Marvin hardwood double glazed windows.

Even above the window spec is the conservatory/sunroom to the rear, done by the UK company Hamptons who did all of Horsehead’s various-sized orangeries and sunrooms: here at No 13, the occupants have the company come around on a near-annual basis for service and precision maintenance.

The c 0.2 acre garden, professionally landscaped and maintained with luscious trimmed lawns, acid-loving plants, shrubs, sandstone patios with south/west aspects and sit-out spots including a sit-out bower in a far corner, are topped off by a graceful stand of eight silver birch trees by the entrance, where there's a charge point for electric/hybrid cars, while the lofted garage under a pitched slated roof holds bikes and sports gear and more.

Most notable architectural feature at No 13 outside is probably the stand-up glazed roof lantern crowning the slate roof: it's a sort of retro period home feature much used by Abington, Horsehead and other UK schemes by architect Melville Dunbar.

Might No 13's new owners choose to extend up into the attic/second floor to really capture that seized light, as several Horsehead residents appear to have done?

Elsewhere, internally No 13 has a traditional layout of fine living rooms at ground, flowing one to the other via various sets of painted, hardwood double doors across a big hall, while an attached garage is home to a serious-looking amount of gym equipment, much used during the pandemic’s long lockdown months.

Keeping with top brand names and suppliers in vogue in the 2000s, the kitchen here is Siematic, with Miele appliances, done by David Kiely/DK Kitchens, sanitary ware and bathrooms are via Villeroy & Boch, and between flooring, carpets, curtains and all accoutrements, it’s all about as understated luxe as you might wish for.

Rather than the occasional bling of the Tiger Times days which might have come with the turf, here the owners have put more interest into furniture, and contemporary art pieces, with works by some recognisable artists, and most exceptional of all are some of the crafted and creative output by world-renowned Irish furniture maker Joseph Walsh, whose studio near Riverstick and Kinsale has attracted apprentice ‘disciples’ across a range of skills and trades and artists.

Here, the sole ‘bad news’ for whoever is fortunate enough to buy 13 Horsehead is that the Joseph Walsh furniture most definitely is not going to be included as fixtures, fittings or contents in any sale.

The works, from chaise longue to tables, chairs, desks and sculptural works, have been collected, commissioned and ‘curated’ over many years: in fact, it’s likely No 13’s departing and trade-down vendors will design specific parts of their next suburban, contemporary property just to make their Joseph Walsh works feel and look right at home.

VERDICT: Stunning build, condition and quality throughout in niche and private harbour setting, just walk in, or cycle in, and hang up your (well-tailored) coat and hat.

Pictures: John Roche