It's a long way from Bishopstown to billionaire status: say a Cork Hello! to decent old stock

THERE’S heady, ongoing demand for good, ‘old stock’ homes in Cork’s Bishopstown...and evidence of the search for trade-up options in the CUH hinterland is seen this week in the very strong viewings, plus early offers, over the asking price already, for 15 Merlyn Lawn.

The detached four-bed with an unofficially unconfirmed  link to a character local Cork fame and lore has been launched at €550,000 by agent Linda O’Donovan of Bowe Property, who describes it as well-positioned and in a fantastic location.

That asking price, by the way, is about 10% of the price of €5 million mansion on the Blackrock Road.

Just sayin'.

Might Cork's Bishopstown and Model Farm Road  hinterland like to claim second-only in status to the Blackrock Road? That stomping ground of certain reclusive and modest billionaires, merchant princes and hack scribes? 

We couldn't possibly say: the Douglas Road Residents'  Association Elite Guard has legal firepower.

Thus, due to various legal threats and pressing non-disclosure reasons/writs,  we cannot reveal No 15 Merlyn Lawn as the one-time Fitzpatrick family home of Reggie of, eh, Blackrock Road fame and uncertain fortune.

But, well-placed sources (putting the law into Merlyn Lawn) indicate that No 15 may well have been bought in 1985,  by a Cork family with comic Pat Fitzpatrick as a black sheep member. 

Which means No 15 was already second-hand or, 'pre-loved’ when a youthful Reggie had to walk from here to Pres, sensibly saving his bus fare for buying stocks and shares.

One doesn't get to be a Captain of Cork Industry relying on the No 8 bus...the shame.

Reggie's roots, at least,  were not humble or so Angela's Ashes, as to have been reared in a a semi-detached suburban home, legal beaks on the South Mall have ordered that we clarify.

No 15 Merlyn Lawn is a decent-sized, well-set DETACHED four bed house, of over 2,000 sq ft, with a distinctive asymmetric roofline, a bit like a RCYC cap gone a tad askew after a G&T too many.

Bowe Property’s Ms O’Donovan says the well-kept family home now needs modernisation: nevertheless she’s got an early response to the launch of the c 1970s No 15, from those who can both aspire to a detached ‘residence,’ and be able to afford one.

It’s got good reception rooms, kitchen/diner, attached garage, four bedrooms and a lean-to sun room in the west-facing back garden.

Meryln Lawn dates to the late 1960s, built by then-active developer/builder Denis McCarthy who also did schemes nearby like Bishopscourt.

 (coincidentally a house built in the grounds of the late Denis McCcarthy's Villa Nova on the Douglas Road is currently for sale, for €2.25m...half the price of a Blackrock Road mansion) 

At Bishopstown's Merlyn Lawn, the evolving profile now is of new, young  families coming in and doing upgrades and extensions when homes come for sale, loving easy access to shops, the CU campus, colleges and schools...although  Pres is still a bit of a trek.

For those who want to keep up with the neighbours, the Price Register shows the strongest Merlyn Lawn sale of late to be the €576,500 paid in 2021 for No 16.

VERDICT: Already under offer over the €550,000 guide, will No 15 go the one-upmanship route and top No 16's €576k?

A certain Reggie would like to think so...but you didn’t hear it from us, obvs.