Sentimental journey home: Extending the family's original Kerry cottage has created a place big enough for all the family to gather and drop an emotional anchor at the homestead.
Pics: Mark O’Sullivan Photography
The past is sepia-tinted. The weather was better, the days free, and memories that transcend generations were made.
Homes are repositories for memories. And if the memories are warm, being able to cross the threshold of the family abode reinforces that sense of place.
The ancestral draw is huge, and good childhood experiences in places enrich us and inform our sensibility.
His mother’s family house was where he spent summers as a kid.
An Irish expat whose family inherited their mother’s small cottage in Co. Kerry has created an extensive space where the whole clan can gather.
Now living in the US and Switzerland, he wanted his extended family to have the same kind of free-range experience, away from screens that he and his siblings did.
The hope was that they would tramp through fields, make houses in hedges, swim in the sea and contemplate which ice cream to choose from the shop.
“The idea was that the whole family could have use of it,” explains David Moriarty of DMA Architects in Tralee, Co Kerry, who designed and extended the property.
His company’s motto is ‘we create space for people to grow’. Co-designed by architect Marie Okasaki and director Angelo Leen of the practice, it’s a multi-generational home where the kids and their grandad can enjoy time together.
There was one stipulation. Now extending to 210 square metres, the five-bedroom, two-bathroom home has two front entrances.
For sentimental reasons, the original one has been retained. It’s the only threshold the grandfather will cross.
When his father comes to stay, he only ever stays in the old part of the house. The original cottage measured about one-third of the new footprint.
“It would have been far more cost-effective and an easier build to have tumbled the cottage, but it’s an emotional anchor. The house now has modern comforts,” he explains.
The house is set over one and a half levels to take into account the landscape levels and to retain the scale of the old cottage, which used to be surrounded by a field of sugar beet.
Changing levels adds complexity. Not breaching the ridge height of the existing building was a consideration.
The younger generations go through what is now the new front door. This takes you to a split-level spot.
Go up, and you get to three of the property’s five bedrooms.
Go down, and you have a utility and then on through to the monopitch vaulted room that houses the kitchen, dining room and living room.
The triple-glazing here is positioned to follow the sun. Views here look out across Tralee Bay to Brandon Point, where you can see the sun sink below the horizon.
Across the bay is Tralee Golf Club, a place the owner frequents.
Underfoot is polished concrete, and it opens out to one of three courtyards.
In the evenings, the kids congregate at the corner window to read or mooch.
If you come in the original entrance, you step down a level to the new build, where there is a listening room to the left, the room featuring the old hearth.
On the right-hand side is a games room.
This part of the house has two bedrooms, one of which features bunk beds, and the other is the grandfather’s room.
The upper level is accommodation. In the bathrooms, Dekton has been used as shower trays to create what David calls “a mono look”.
The interiors were supplied by Sea Salt Coastal Living,
The social aspect locally is another unwritten factor of the build.
“It brings a village house back to life and allows more generations to feel rooted in the community. In turn, they will bring their friends and family to the area. It brings an energy,” David explains.
“They know more people locally and like being connected by going to pubs, restaurants and church.”
He was very trusting. Find me the best builder you have. He got on very well with Leahy Construction Ltd.
It is, David says, very rare. Somers Creative Joinery in Tralee did all the built-in work, while the kitchen was fabricated by Neil Norton Design. The windows were sourced from Weathermaster Kerry.
“Nothing was spared”, he says of the project, which cost about €1.5 million.
It’s a 10-minute walk to Fenit, where there are two pubs, two cafes, and one restaurant. There’s a sauna near Barra Harbour and Bar.
The north Kerry greenway is a five-minute walk away, which liberates cyclists and walkers to get off the road and explore all this corner of the world has to offer. It means you can travel to Tralee off-road.
Sadly, the owner’s mother didn’t get to see the grand design. She passed away during the design process. He also lost his brother during the build, all of which reinforced the need to have a place with room for all the family to gather.
For more, visit DMA Architects, Tralee.
