Leitrim people who attended Hugh Wallace talk in the Landmark 'were very much drawn to him'

It was with a heavy heart that the death of architect Hugh Wallace was announced by his husband this week after he passed away suddenly on Sunday evening. 

Architect and television presenter Hugh, best known to RTÉ audiences as a long-serving judge on Home of the Year, died at the age of 68.

Speaking to the Leitrim Observer, Cllr Paddy O'Rourke spoke of how Hugh attended a Leitrim County Council Information Event, back in June, to showcase the potential to transform vacant and derelict properties into vibrant homes, at the Landmark Hotel, Carrick-On-Shannon. Award Winning Architect Hugh Wallace was the Keynote Speaker on the day. 

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Cllr O'Rourke said: "Leitrim County Council invited Hugh to be part of their initiative last May, in promoting all the various schemes out there to assist in the renovation of vacant or derelict homes. You could see they were very much pushing an open door with him and that he was keen. The remarkable thing was that, for someone who was generally associated with very grandiose, luxury homes, he was still able to very much relate to the ordinary country man and woman's family home; something of much smaller dimensions. He had a very practical view and very diplomatic in that he didn't rubbish anyone's ideas or suggestions and listened patiently to everybody. The people who were in attendance in the Landmark were very much drawn to him because he was generous with time, knowledge and suggestions."

Cllr O'Rourke continued that he spoke to Hugh after the event who informed him that he has relatives in Laois who came from a farming background. "I actually know some of his relations on a personal basis in Co. Laois because I do business with them. When I met him, I brought up the subject and we talked about some of the people that I knew that were his relatives. We also talked about a few large houses that are in that district where he grew up, partly, where his dad was from."

He said that despite "mixing with millionaires and doing very exotic houses", he was "well able to relate to the ordinary three-bed house and look at what was practical for a family and more importantly, what was affordable."

Cllr O'Rourke concluded: "It is heart-breaking for his life partner and his extended family and he is also a huge loss to the industry and in that respect, to the nation."