{"id":129918,"date":"2025-10-18T09:48:16","date_gmt":"2025-10-18T09:48:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/129918\/"},"modified":"2025-10-18T09:48:16","modified_gmt":"2025-10-18T09:48:16","slug":"a-tour-of-the-tate-kenmare-better-known-as-the-park-hotel-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/129918\/","title":{"rendered":"A tour of the Tate Kenmare, better known as the Park Hotel \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

Some locals have taken to calling the Co Kerry<\/a> town\u2019s Park Hotel<\/a> \u201cthe Tate Kenmare\u201d. It\u2019s a humorous take on the subtle transformation of the historic and luxurious five-star hotel on the shores of Kenmare<\/a> Bay, and it tickles and touches Bryan and Tara Meehan, who bought the Park from Francis and John Brennan in 2023. <\/p>\n

Same gracious rooms and manicured gardens, but the 1897 hotel\u2019s aesthetic and dynamic are subtly altered by the Meehans\u2019 extensive collection of Irish and international art. Gone are the gilt-framed landscapes and heavy mirrors, and everywhere \u2013 in the entrance lobby, along the corridors, stepping the gracious stairwells, in the bedrooms \u2013 there is art: Andy Warhol<\/a>, Dorothy Cross<\/a>, Elizabeth Colomba, Guggi<\/a>, Park Seo-Bo, and more.<\/p>\n

The restaurant is renamed the Landline, after Sean Scully<\/a>\u2019s series which boldly proclaims his presence. Opposite, an Annie Morris tapestry over the fireplace.<\/p>\n

On the stairs, Theaster Gates reclaims canvas fire hoses turned on the 1963 civil rights protesters in Birmingham, Alabama, transforming them into art. In the library is a striking exhibition (until December) of French photojournalist Gilles Caron\u2019s images of the Battle of the Bogside<\/a> in Derry, published in Life magazine. <\/p>\n

\"BryanBryan Meehan standing at one of his Sean Scully paintings, ‘Moorland’ 2007 which hangs in the hotel’s dining room. Photos: Bryan O\u2019Brien \/ The Irish Times <\/p>\n

Irish businessman and Blue Bottle Coffee founder Meehan has collected all his life. Growing up in Dublin, when his parents had spare money, \u201crather than put it in the bank or under the mattress, they\u2019d buy a painting. One of my first memories is from 1977, of them coming home with a set of Maurice MacGonigal<\/a> watercolours!\u201d. <\/p>\n

The Park Kenmare collection is open to the public as well as hotel guests, with regular art tours.<\/p>\n

\"SpectrumSpectrum (2013) by Mark Francis. Photos: Bryan O’Brien \"DianeDiane Ihnatenko working in the Sean Scully Room of the Park Hotel Kenmare. Behind her is the Sean Scully painting \u2018Moorland\u2019. Photo: Bryan O\u2019Brien \/ The Irish Times \"'Triple‘Triple Stripe’ (2024) by Theaster Gates \"ParkPark Hotel Kenmare owner Bryan Meehan stands beside ‘Moorland’ (2007), by Sean Scully, which hangs in the hotel’s dining room \"'Untitled'‘Untitled’ rose (2022), by Michael Craig-Martin, hangs in the hallway of the Park Hotel Kenmare \"'Glassilaun‘Glassilaun snow peak’ (2014), by Dorothy Cross, and ‘Baltimore series (Angela in Orange)’ (2003) \"'Withered‘Withered Historical Record With Content’ (2018), by Theaster Gates \"StaffStaff member Jude McCarthy walks by art in the Park Hotel Kenmare. \"AlisonAlison Iles visiting from Canada admires some of the art on show in the Landline Terrace of the Park Hotel in Kenmare Co. Kerry Photograph: Bryan O\u2019Brien <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Some locals have taken to calling the Co Kerry town\u2019s Park Hotel \u201cthe Tate Kenmare\u201d. It\u2019s a humorous…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":129919,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[75],"tags":[7556,78175,18,117,78176,19,17,5280,957,50407,2212],"class_list":{"0":"post-129918","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-entertainment","8":"tag-andy-warhol","9":"tag-dorothy-cross","10":"tag-eire","11":"tag-entertainment","12":"tag-guggi","13":"tag-ie","14":"tag-ireland","15":"tag-kenmare","16":"tag-kerry","17":"tag-park-hotel-kenmare","18":"tag-weekendreview"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/129918","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=129918"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/129918\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/129919"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=129918"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=129918"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=129918"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}