Reeks, lakes and oodles of space at €925k deluxe Killarney home

Views from The Oaks are to die for, even from the kitchen sink

The Oaks, Tullig, Killarney. Pictures: H-Pix

Killarney, Co Kerry
€925,000
Size	305 sq m (3283 sq ft)
Bedrooms	4
Bathrooms	5
BER	D1

IF A HOUSE could sprout from a seed and naturally adapt to its landscape, it might take shape like the home featured here. All of the main living spaces have windows that frame South Kerry’s spectacular natural landscape. 

View from the living room

The cinematic sweep zigzags across the Macgillycuddy Reeks and Torc Mountain, before tilting downward to the wooded shoreline of Killarney’s famous lakes.

The chap who designed it understood the site he was dealing with. He was Harry Wallace, a Cork man with a Killarney-based architectural practice since the mid-1970s. By the time he was commissioned to come up with a blueprint for this unique family home in Tullig, outside Killarney in the 1990s, he’d honed his skills on a wide range of architectural works, from public buildings such as modernist design triumph Bantry Library, to hotels, commercial buildings, and multiple one-off homes. Several have featured in these pages over the years, most recently the up-for-sale and currently under offer Kenmare home of local business family, the McCarthys, who trade in hardware.

Split level lounge

Others included Bun na Spéire near Carragh Lake, designed for a German client, businessman Gunther Klinge, for whom Mr Wallace also designed the Klinge Pharma plant in Killorglin.

Auctioneers will tell you these homes have what locals refer to as a “signature Harry Wallace look” and The Oaks in Tullig, 3.5km outside Killarney town, does share certain characteristics. 

Roof overhang

Natural redbrick feature walls

The design features split-level elements, roof overhangs, generous use of glass, varied floor layouts, and use of natural materials, all hallmarks of the architect’s style. Above all, the design was driven by a desire to frame the dramatic landscape of mountain and lake, while maximising the amount of natural light inside. 

Most of the accommodation and the outdoor entertainment areas face south.

While the scene stealer at The Oaks is what you can see from its many windows, there’s plenty to grab your attention inside, starting with the fabulous entrance porch at the end of a walkway towards the rear of the house.

Entrance porch with Liscannor stone floor

With its Liscannor stone floor and expensive glazing it could just as easily be the entrance to a boutique hotel. Beyond it, tall pitch pine double doors lead to a hallway where exposed redbrick is a feature on some of the walls. 

This decorative theme is picked up in the country-style kitchen/ dining room, where granite worktops have a warm rustic hue.

Around the Aga is a red brick chimney breast, and there’s a Belfast sink and built in larder.

A door leads to a downstairs utility/ kitchen and a separate stairs leads to a sunken living room.

The layout of the house zigzags, a bit like the mountain range it faces. Downstairs in the living room, a sliding glass door leads to a patio and deck area. 

You need not go outside to admire the scenery, because a wraparound window delivers the sweeping views straight to the heart of the home.

 Upstairs in the kitchen is no different. With so much natural beauty to look at, there’s surely competition to wash the dishes!

Not just a kitchen sink

 It’s the same story in the light-filled lounge across the hallway and in each of the four bedrooms, all facing the right way to catch mountain and lake.

Light filled lounge

View from the main bedroom

At 305sq m (3,283 sq ft), The Oaks is a super-sized family home. The 0.57a site it is on is magnificently landscaped and the house is perfectly elevated, with the bulk of the property tucked below the road. The main south-facing outdoor areas are shielded from passersby by the design of the house. 

Privacy — or lack of it — is not an issue.

A home where no expense was spared, The Oaks is on the market with a guide price of €925,000 and joint agents Brian Olden of Cohalan Downing and Ted Healy of DNG Ted Healy are handling the sale. They highlight the additional accommodation such as a study with fitted, bespoke ash desk and cabinetry, a linen room in the bedroom wing, a couple of en suite bedrooms, and a dressing room for the principal bedroom on the first floor.

 There’s also a wine cellar on the lower ground floor and — worth mentioning for music aficionados — an adjoining media and music room, with a lobby to outside.

The less sexy details include a large enclosed storage space beneath the external deck, plenty of parking, cedarwood double glazed windows throughout, and oil-fired central heating.

“As always with a home like this, in a setting such as this one, we would expect to see international, as well as local and national interest,” the agents say.

“In Kerry and Kinsale, you will always get overseas interest from returning emigrants looking for a high quality property like The Oaks,” Mr Olden adds.

VERDICT: A byword for luxury, The Oaks has top quality interiors, but its greatest riches are in the natural landscape that those living there can so readily enjoy.