Landmark Cork city building goes on market for €2m

A landmark Cork city quayside premises originally used as a butter warehouse, later known as Guinness House, and more recently home to online marketplace Zazzle, is on the market for €2m.

The property at No 6 Union Quay, which dates to 1865, but has been upgraded internally for modern use, is also available to let for an annual rent of €185,000.

The building’s high-profile waterfront position, combined with own-door access “offers a flexible opportunity for a broad range of purchasers and occupiers”, according to Savills agent Micheál Walsh.

American e-commerce company Zazzle bought the 11,539sq ft, two-storey premises for about €1.2m in 2013 from brewing giant Guinness Ireland, who relocated there from No 86 St Patrick’s Street in 1997.

Prior to that, No 6 Union Quay was part of the Dowdall O’Mahony & Co Ltd butter and margarine manufacturing operation.

Major trading and warehousing quarter

The 1911 census records it as a butter factory, with a margarine factory at adjoining No 7, reflecting Cork’s historic importance in the international butter trade. The building is on the south channel of the Lee, an area that developed as a major trading and warehousing quarter as Cork expanded in the 18th and 19th centuries.

Dowdall O’Mahony produced products such as Black Swan butter, Sunrose Margarine, Bakers Pride Golden Shortening baking fat, and Frytex.

They also made soap up to 1960 including Whiteline soap and Wizard carbolic soap used in institutions and laundries. Up to 50 people were employed in the 1960s before it was sold to Kraft Foods in 1969. The factory closed in 1989 and Guinness bought the premises in 1997.

Under Zazzle’s ownership, the property was adapted to provide high-quality office accommodation, “finished to a strong specification”, the agent says. 

Internally, the building comprises predominantly open-plan office space complemented by meeting rooms, canteen facilities, shower provision, and secure access throughout.