Great Southern Killarney

Killarney is the proud birthplace of Irish tourism, and The Great Southern Killarney, has been a focal point of this lively and bustling tourist town since 1854. Killarney was chosen as the location for the Great Southern and Western Railway Company to build a “Grand Hotel” outside of Dublin that year. In order to construct a railroad station and hotel, they needed 40 acres of land at the railhead, and wanted it for free. A portion of the land in question belonged to Lord Kenmare’s vast estate, which spanned from Killarney to Kenmare. Despite the value of signing over the land, Lord Kenmare had a special garden he had lovingly developed over a long period of time on the piece the railway wanted. Despite his reservations about losing the site, the parties eventually agreed that the Great Southern and Western Railway Company could build their new hotel under two conditions: The Brownes (Lord Kenmare’s family) would have free rail travel whenever they wished, and should they be delayed in getting to the station, the train in question would hold departure until the Brownes had boarded safely. Once these conditions were met, the Killarney Railway Junction Company ran a design competition in order to choose an architect for the hotel. The hotel was eventually designed by an architect other than the competition winner, for reasons that remain mysterious to this day. The final architect, Mr Frederick Darley, was the official architect to Trinity College, and had also designed Merchant’s Hall in Dublin, the Kings Inn Library, and a Magnetic Observatory at Trinity.