Address: Prospect Villa, Scilly, Kinsale, Co CorkPrice: €5,500,000 Agent: Sherry FitzGerald Cork, Sherry FitzGerald Country Homes, Sheehy Brothers Auctioneers“I love conservation architecture,” says Maeve Cotter: originally from Dublin, she has restored some of Cork’s most valuable period houses. Cotter was for several years site architect on Castlehyde, Michael Flatley’s Palladian mansion in Fermoy, and she worked on the restoration of the 17th-century Charles Fort, one of Kinsale’s best-known historical attractions. “It’s how I came to Kinsale in the first place, in the early 1970s,” she says.She made her home in the area, established her company, Belclare Projects, and had already restored her own home, Seamark, a Georgian house in Glandore, Co Cork, before buying Mount Prospect Villa, a Victorian house standing high on a hill overlooking Kinsale Harbour. Seamark sold in 2012 for €3.7 million, according to the Property Price Register; in the same year, she and her husband Martin bought Mount Prospect Villa for €800,000, according to the register.They couldn’t live in the house initially, it was so badly damaged, says Cotter, but they moved into the property in 2014. It was completely refurbished and extended at a cost of about €1 million: its period features were retained but it has been upgraded as a modern family home. Cotter has a particular focus on energy efficiency and the house has lots of solar panels, zoned underfloor heating, air-to-water heating system, heat-recovery ventilation – and a B1 Ber, unusual in period homes. Now simply called Prospect Villa, the detached 417sq m (4,489sq ft) four-bed house, built in 1870 in Scilly, a suburb directly across the harbour from Kinsale town centre, is for sale seeking €5.5 million through joint agents Sherry FitzGerald Cork, Sherry FitzGerald Country Homes and Sheehy Brothers Auctioneers. It sits on 2.72 acres of landscaped gardens and comes with a separate large studio with a wave-shaped roof where Cotter, who is an artist as well as a conservation architect, does her painting. Prospect Villa is now more than double its original size of about 186sq m (2,000sq ft), and accommodation includes a library, study and a cinema room. The owners are now downsizing but staying in Kinsale. Prospect Villa is a bright and airy home. A replica front door opens into a tiled reception hall with ornate plaster coving which opens into an inner hall with a tiled floor and a skylight. A study/home office has double glass-panelled doors leading into a sunroom. A standout room is the library, not a common feature in modern houses: it has floor-to-ceiling bookshelves in Irish elm and burr walnut, with a rolling ladder and an integrated desk, from David Crowley Furniture. It has an engineered oak floor, ornate plaster coving and a Barbas stove.The living/diningroom is a long room with a triple-bay window, an engineered oak floor and at the diningroom end, a built-in bar with a sink and glass shelving. It opens into the large, very bright modern kitchen from David Lane Kitchens where a wall of floor-to-ceiling windows and doors look out over Kinsale, with two doors opening on to sun terraces. It has not one, but two stone-topped islands and a walk-in pantry. A laundry room has cupboards and countertops and a traditional Victorian pulley airer as well as a washer and dryer.Other rooms downstairs include a mud room opening on to the garden and a part-tiled shower room. The home cinema has a 3mx1.8m screen, a ceiling-mounted projector and a Dolby home-theatre sound system.The four bedrooms are all doubles with en suites. The main bedroom has a bay window with views of the town of Kinsale and its inner and outer harbours. It has a large en suite and a walk-in wardrobe.Outbuildings include Cotter’s studio, which has walls of glass, underfloor heating, a kitchenette and shower room; a potting shed; and a Victorian-style glasshouse. The large gardens include extensive lawns, specimen planting and mature trees, and there are two vehicular entrances and lots of parking space.Prospect Villa, Scilly, Kinsale, Co Cork Kitchen Library Main bedroom Studio Cinema room The approach Patio