LOOKING for a family home fortress, on the doorstep of Cork City’s CUH, third level colleges, schools, and more? Try Dun Angus, an entirely deceptive Bishopstown home called after the Aran Island’s bronze age fort Dún Aonghasa. But unlike its western counterpart, this one has moved with times... Cork’s Dun Angus is at Bishopstown Avenue West, one of the quieter runs off the Model Farm Road with a pedestrian access to the CUH campus by the hepatology department, while there’s a busier access to the CUH’s spreading acres at the parallel Bishopstown Avenue, by Laburnum Park. The residential ‘west’ run’s entrance is opposite St Catherine’s girls’ NS, and some of the houses here back on to Highfield Rugby Club by Woodleigh: we’re talking pure Bishopstown here, clearly. West facing Dun Angus itself is a bit of a stealth home, one of those ‘deceptively large’ houses that conceal more than ever first meets the eye. A detached, three-bay home, it looks quite tall for a two-storey — in fact, it’s three-storeys inside, with 560 sq ft added at attic level in 2004 when architect Jim Leahy worked in a decent, permanent stairs access to a second floor: this is now home to three dormer style rooms, with Veluxes (not visible from the road outside) plus a shower room. That’s on top of the first/middle floor which has four bedrooms off a split/half landing going left and right of a central carpeted stairs, plus main family bathroom with bath. None of those rooms are mean-sized, by the way, while the main bedroom ticks very many modern home hunters’ wish list boxes, with wall-to-wall robes, a dressing room, plus en suite bathroom, with shower, and is set to the back of the house, with garden views. How does all of this fit in? Well having bought this ‘hearts’ desire’ home back in 1978 — for £34,000 — the couple started what turned out to be a series of four planned changes. In 1985 they used the services of local builder PJ Hourihan to add an extended kitchen. They did other changes in 1994, and more again in 1999; then, in 2004 they went for ‘the big one’ going up on the top and out at the back so that now there’s a two-storey extension, gable fronted, with a main six metre by almost four metre kitchen/ breakfast room with island, linking to a sun room addition via double doors for more eating/ dining options, with pleated blinds over this sun room’s glass roof sections. There’s an unpredictable but very effective internal flow now after the incremental changes, so it connects front to back via linked quality-finished reception rooms right of the entry hall, with a living room with fireplace and bay window to the front. Next, an arch opens to the dining room (chimney breast in place but fireplace gone); then sliding patio doors open to the sun room, with pitched roof and quality fabric blinds and with kitchen access through glazed double doors: that’s one run of rooms, three in all, sequentially, front to back. Mid-ships, the hall gives a route also to the ‘new’ kitchen via what was the original kitchen, now a TV room/ grandchild’s play room with electric fire — toy and book filled. Then, on the far side of the kitchen a single door leads to a side/ back hall which has along it a very good guest WC, a shelved hot press, and to the front of the very practical and spacious house (a theme for this home, in lots of ways) is a utility room, large and well fitted, with presses facing one another, stacked laundry appliances, and a sink. Neatly, this utility has a door to the side of the house by the front drive, and window overlooking the entrance, the front garden, and the road beyond. It’s a perfect place to start decanting weekly shopping from the car or to start shedding dirty sports gear by the washing machine and sink, before hitting the ground floor bathroom and myriad day time rooms. Coming up now on half century here having made their home work for all family stages, from child rearing to grandchild welcoming, the original couple are now rightsizing; they have just come to the finishing stages of a brand new build, again in the city’s western reaches, by the Curraheen Road, moving to be close to new family generations. Selling Dun Angus is Dennis Guerin and Chloe Reidy of Frank V Murphy & Co, and they guide the 2,885 sq ft four bed-plus attic rooms home on its immaculate and landscaped grounds at €1.15m. The Price Register shows four sales above €1m to date with a Bishopstown Avenue address, and the nexus of ‘Avenue’ roads includes bungalows, semi-ds, big detacheds and some very, very big rebuilds and monster extensions. Mount Nephin made €1.28m in 2021, Small Acre made €1.68m in 2023, Dun Padraig made €1.25m the same year, and the latest is Doirin, making €1.17m at the start of 2025. The most recent sale on Bishopstown Avenue West is Glenanaar, showing at €600,000 just last month. VERDICT: Given the surge in supply of new builds on and off the Model Farm Road and Orchard Road with €1m-plus price tags happily snapped up, a swift and strong sale of Dun Angus seems a bit of a banker too