![\"On](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/4886502_4_articleinlinemobile_TV_20architect_2c_20Hugh_20Wallace_20and_20Electric_20Ireland_20Superh.jpeg\" "\\"On")
On the airwaves and TV, Hugh Wallace’s frankness about his personal life endeared him to the public. Picture: Robbie Reynolds<\/p>\nBecause of course we all welcomed him into our living rooms as he became a small-screen star from 2015 \u2014 he is the only Home of the Year judge to have been in the series from the start.<\/p>\n
His fellow architect and RT\u00c9 Home of the Year co-presenter Amanda Bone said Hugh brought out her \u201cinner child\u201d.<\/p>\n
\n His sense of humour, fun, and mischief made me laugh loudly over the last six years.\u00a0\n <\/p>\n
Amanda\u2019s tribute on Instagram reminded me of a conversation I had with Hugh as he, Amanda, and interior designer Sara Cosgrove were travelling to visit one of the houses they were judging.<\/p>\n
They were like siblings squabbling on a road trip, whizzing through the Sunny South-East en route to a house that featured in the 2024 series.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cWe take in one house per day, as we snoop, digest and cogitate,\u201d said Hugh at the time, with Amanda pointedly interjecting to tell him how they liked to \u201cdisagree\u201d \u2014 a reference to how their opposing tastes were a running joke.<\/p>\n
On the airwaves and TV, Hugh Wallace’s frankness about his personal life endeared him to the public. Picture: Robbie Reynolds<\/p>\n
Hugh spoke of how his husband Martin Corbett and his friend Amanda had a similar views on interior design.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cThey both share the beautiful taste of the minimalist whereas Sara and I love opulence,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Hugh and Martin were renovating a house on Clanbrassil Street in Dublin\u2019s city centre, and Hugh was talking about his excitement at moving in to the Georgian property once work finished.<\/p>\n
Hugh was a director and co-founder of architecture firm Douglas Wallace Consultants and was widely known and admired for his work as the presenter of RT\u00c9\u2019s The Great House Revival and as a judge on Home of the Year.<\/p>\n
On the airwaves and on TV, his frankness about his personal life endeared him to the public.<\/p>\n
Dave O\u2019Brien, Cork, Home of the Year 2021 runner-up, is one of many to have been struck by Hugh\u2019s kindness and fun nature whenever they met him, during the TV series and later during many home interior design events.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cHugh was wonderful \u2014 and just full of divilment,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n
The Royal Institute of the Architects of Ireland (RIAI) spoke of Hugh’s “important and enduring” contribution to Irish architecture both as an architect and as a broadcaster.\u00a0<\/p>\n
“As a broadcaster he connected public audiences with the value that architecture brings to all our lives \u2014 from a well-designed room to a large historic or contemporary building,” said Carole Pollard, past president of the RIAI, who had worked with Hugh.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\n Hugh Wallace made architecture accessible and emphasised that good design is available to everyone.\u00a0\n <\/p>\n
\u201cHugh was a brilliant communicator, and he gave his full attention to everyone, no matter if they were a client, colleague, or a building contractor \u2014 he believed that everyone was a valuable contributor to a project.\u00a0<\/p>\n
“He was generous with advice and believed in giving everyone responsibility for their projects. He was self-deprecating and a great mentor to many young architects as well as interior designers.”<\/p>\n
![\"Hugh](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/4886505_4_articleinlinemobile_TGHR_20Series_205_20Hugh_20Wallace_208_1_.jpg\" "\\"Hugh")
Hugh Wallace had a knack of finding community spirit wherever he roamed. <\/p>\n
Hugh was no elitist and loved all kinds of design from the conventional clean lines to the quaint and the quirky.<\/p>\n
The architect revealed he was a fan of Ireland\u2019s bungalows in 2020 when he was fronting My Bungalow Bliss.<\/p>\n
The development of bungalows represents \u201cpeople having a little bit of money\u201d and moving out of the traditional homes they grew up in, he said at the time.<\/p>\n
\u201cPeople give out about the bungalow but it was a necessity,” he said.\u00a0<\/p>\n
“Along the way bungalows became maligned. Architects didn\u2019t like them. There was snobbery about them.<\/p>\n
\u201cBungalows were about us as a society growing up.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Though raised in Dundrum, his passion for people and places across Ireland showed in the verve with which he presented RT\u00c9\u2019s The Great House Revival.<\/p>\n
Siobhan O\u2019Mahony and Timmie O\u2019Brien, who featured on the series in 2025, as they transformed the former post office in Butlerstown, Co Cork into their forever home had been keen to enlist Hugh\u2019s help.<\/p>\n
Once the architect arrived on-site, Siobhan said they found the TV personality to be \u201cexactly what you\u2019d expect \u2014 only nicer\u201d.<\/p>\n
You see, Hugh had a knack of finding community spirit wherever he roamed.\u00a0<\/p>\n
In an interview with Irish Examiner Home two years ago he said:\u00a0<\/p>\n