There’s a familiar pattern that when builders, architects, or other professionals develop a particular scheme, they often keep the best house for themselves.
And why wouldn’t they? Their families might not thank them for settling for second best.
Take the plunge
That’s exactly what happened almost 100 years ago when builder and quantity surveyor Patrick F Coveney (PF) — father of the late Fine Gael TD Hugh and grandfather of former Fine Gael minister Simon Coveney, among other high-profile family members — built Glenmaris in a neo-Tudor style at Endsleigh Park, off Cork City’s main Douglas Road, around 1933.
PF, who was born near Tracton, studied building construction at Crawford Municipal Technical College in the 1920s before founding his firm, PF Coveney.
By the 1930s, he was constructing new homes in what is now Endsleigh Park on Douglas Road — then still a village-like area, but rapidly developing during the interwar years.
Home on the range
PF Coveney built many of the substantial Tudoresque houses in Endsleigh Park for Cork’s growing middle class, with architects Chillingworth & Levie likely responsible for a number of the designs. He kept Glenmaris, a property on 0.4 of an acre, for his own family.
He owned it for more than four decades, from the 1930s to 1974, when it was sold to the current family of owners.
They still recall features such as a bomb shelter in the back garden (since removed), a butler’s pantry, scullery, meat safe, gardener’s WC, and maid’s bells — one of which still works.
For whom the bells toll…one still works
Some of those original features have been cleverly repurposed. The butler’s pantry, for instance, is now whimsically named the “loo-brary” — a book-lined guest WC home to hundreds of books.
The loo-brary
The standout feature, however, is the solid oak staircase and wood-panelled hall, crafted from timbers salvaged from the SS Celtic, a White Star liner that ran aground at the mouth of Cork Harbour in December 1928.
Stairs from the SS Celtic
Many homes — and even The Long Valley Bar on Winthrop Street — boast salvaged items from the SS Celtic, including doors, mirrors, bookcases, portholes, beams, furniture, and tables.
Another property, Kilroan House in Glanmire, currently on the market with an AMV of €1.5m, also features extensive panelling from the ship.
At Glenmaris, the staircase adds grandeur to a substantial build with 2.7m-high ceilings in the main reception rooms and period fireplaces in tile and stone, including sandstone. The kitchen centres on a crimson-red Royal Rayburn stove, offering both warmth and charm.
Range of options
The house has remained with its current owners since 1974, home to the family of a leading neurosurgeon who raised five daughters here. It now comes to market for only the second time in nearly a century, offered as an executor’s sale.
Glenmaris is listed at €1.3m with agent Brian Olden of Cohalan Downing, who describes it as “this is ‘old Cork’, it’s a really lovely and substantial quality home. It’s quite exceptional, and has a lovely timeless quality, and will make a superb home for another fortunate family for years to come.”
Main reception room with sandstone fireplace
Mr Olden believes it’s one of 2025’s standout listings, following the sale of Blair Glaisse in Endsleigh Park (AMV €1.3m via Patricia Stokes) and Glenesk, near the park’s entrance, which went to market this summer at €1.1m and is now under offer below €1m.
Despite a cooler property market in 2025, several Douglas homes have still exceeded €1m, including Moyard at Woodview (€1.2m) and Ballincurrig House (over €1m) — both via Cohalan Downing.
Upwardly mobile (note stained glass panel over the door)
The same agents also handled Arts & Crafts gem Kendalsbrae, dating to the 1920s, on 2.25 acres at Woodview/Well Road, with an AMV of €2.95m.
That sale was topped only by the €4m listing of Ravenscourt House on Well Road/Skehard Road, offered by Lisney Sotheby’s International Realty.
Glenmaris is in excellent condition, ready for immediate occupancy and minor updates over time. Drainage and underpinning work have already been completed.
Yes, it’s a little dated — but charmingly so — with five bedrooms (up to three en suite, one a compact WC closet).
Vintage tiling is top quality
Notable original features include fireplaces, doors, floors, stained-glass transoms above several bedroom doors, and the deep-glazed white-and-green tiling in the main bathroom.
The ground floor includes a living room, dining room, study, kitchen/family dining area with sunroom, a large utility/laundry room, the “loo-brary,” and access to a yard, outbuildings, an outdoor WC, and a glasshouse tucked behind mature apple trees — which have just dropped the last of this autumn’s crop.
There’s even a garden pond which, when drained years ago, revealed several golf balls, likely hit there by junior Coveney golfers — perhaps the easiest ‘hole in one’ any budding Ryder Cup hopeful could dream of.
The berries
VERDICT: The man who built much of Endsleigh Park clearly knew what he was doing when he kept Glenmaris for himself. Prospective buyers should move quickly — and renovate slowly.