Anyone who has walked the cliff path around Howth Head will probably be familiar with Heather Cottage. Partially hidden in the landscape, with its local stone walls and zinc roof visible from the upper trail, the house has become one of the peninsula’s most recognisable homes.
Sitting at the most easterly residential site on the island, it appears less like a house imposed on the cliff and more like part of it.
The five-bedroom detached property was designed by architect, the late Andrzej Wejchert of AD Wejchert and Partners, and built in 2005 by the then owner, Johnny Ronan and Richard Barrett’s Treasury Holdings.
Polish-born Wejchert worked alongside his wife, Danuta Kornaus-Wejchert, on some of Ireland’s best-known buildings, including the UCD campus, the Helix Performing Arts Centre at DCU and the Glasnevin Cemetery Trust Museum. Wejchert was one of the most prolific architects in Ireland with his work extending across the country, from shopping centres to one-off homes.
Planning for a house on the edge of Howth Head was never going to be straightforward, but Wejchert’s design, with its Howth stone cladding, settles naturally into the cliffside. The house and surrounding land fall within the Howth special amenity area order, which protects 547 hectares, including Ireland’s Eye, the heathland, woods, cliffs, shingle beaches and wooded residential areas across the southeastern side of the peninsula.
The current owners, barrister Gerardine Connolly and her husband, sculptor Patrick O’Reilly, bought the house in 2010. Connolly had already noticed the property years earlier while searching for a home with enough land to accommodate rescue animals.
“I was out walking with friends, and I saw this very unusual house in the middle of the landscape,” says Connolly. “I asked who owned it and it was a couple I knew. I asked if they’d ever considered selling the house, and at the time they didn’t. It had always stuck in my mind because as an animal reserve it would be perfect. Then some years later it came on the market and that was it.”
The elevated driveway leading up to Heather Cottage from the cliff path gives the impression of driving directly towards the sea. Behind secure gates, the house reveals itself gradually. Despite extending to 340sq m (3,390sq ft), it avoids feeling ostentatious or imposing. Instead, the curves of the stone walls and the way they wrap around the structure allow the house to blend into its surroundings, almost fort-like in places. The roof is finished in corrosion-resistant zinc and incorporates two terraces positioned to make the most of the setting.
Connolly and O’Reilly did not change too much in their time. They added an extension designed by the late John Meagher that stayed true to the original design and carried out upgrades that brought the Ber rating to B2.
The property comes with seven acres of grounds, something the couple fully embraced from the beginning by filling the land with rescue animals. It has small stables and a newly installed tennis court. Living in this protected area was what the owners appreciated most about the house.
“After a long day, both of us loved arriving home to total solitude. Patrick particularly loved the turbulence of the sea. If there was a storm, he found it magnificent. For me it was the walks. If I wanted to walk and not see anybody, I could just disappear into the landscape and be in absolute nature.”
Coastal location 
Roof terrace 
Secluded setting
Inside, the house is arranged across different levels. From the hallway, the five bedrooms extend off to the right, with some at entrance level and others on the lower floor that was dug directly into the ground. Each bedroom has an en suite bathroom, and three have freestanding baths positioned within the rooms themselves, giving them the feel of hotel suites.
The living spaces are also split across levels but remain visually connected through short flights of stairs and open-plan layouts rather than doors. The kitchen is the only room that does not face the sea. Contemporary in style, it also contains a concealed floor door leading down to one of O’Reilly’s studios below ground. For anyone less artistically inclined, the space could just as easily work as a wine cellar.
Off the kitchen, the diningroom overlooks the lower livingroom and connects to a second reception space that has a gallery-like feel thanks to full-length glazing facing the sea.
The lower livingroom is divided into two sections by a dual-fronted fireplace. Doors open from here on to a sheltered patio, one of several outdoor seating areas around the property. Decking, pathways and terraces create different vantage points around the site – some low, some high, some more exposed than others.
O’Reilly’s sculptures and artwork appear throughout the house and gardens, adding colour and character against the striking backdrop of the coastline.
Entrance hall 
Kitchen 
View from dining area 
Livingroom with a view 
Lower livingrooms 
Livingroom 
Bedroom 
Bedroom
The decision to leave such a unique home has not been easy for the couple.
“When we first came to Howth in 2010, there was a passion and that passion was nature, and a big part of that was the animals,” says Connolly. “Last year was particularly difficult because a lot of the animals have passed on. It’s been 10 years, so they were all around the same age. The day the last indoor animal died, the dream was over. Everything had changed. There are still three donkeys and two alpacas there who are being looked after by the neighbours.”
Their decision is also tied to a new chapter in Connolly’s life. Her work as Honorary Consul of Ireland to Venice and northern Italy has allowed her to pursue another long-standing passion: ballet. After discovering there was no ballet presence in Venice, she decided to establish a project alongside dancer Alessio Carbone. She wants to challenge the perception of ballet as something elitist and instead make it more widely accessible.
“It feels such a privilege now to be involved in the world of creativity and the freedom that comes with that – I really know I’m lucky.
“We’ve been so happy at Heather Cottage for 16 years. It’s a sacred sort of landscape with the gorse and the heather. There’s a sadness about leaving but life has pulled us in a different direction now and the ballet project requires my attention 24-7.”
Heather Cottage is on the market through Lisney Sotheby’s International Realty, seeking €4.95 million.
The alpacas 
Howth stone wall 
Roof terrace 
Garden to the front 
Heather Cottage from above 
Cliffside setting