Architect and presenter Hugh Wallace dies aged 68

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

In a statement posted on Wallace’s Instagram account, his husband Martin Corbett wrote: “It is with deep sadness and shock that I share the news that my beloved husband and soulmate, Hugh Wallace, passed away suddenly at home last night. I am heartbroken. Please respect my privacy at this deeply painful time. Martin.”

Wallace became a familiar face on RTÉ One through shows such as Home of the Year, The Great House Revival and My Bungalow Bliss, where his enthusiasm, sharp eye for design and warm on-screen presence made him a favourite with viewers. He was the only judge to appear in every series of Home of the Year, fronting the hit property show since it first aired in 2015.

Away from television, Wallace was a founding partner of Dublin-based practice Douglas Wallace Architects, which he helped build into one of Ireland’s best-known design consultancies. Over several decades, he worked on hotels, retail spaces and homes around the country and often spoke about the role of good design in creating a sense of place and belonging.

Paying tribute, RTÉ Director General Kevin Bakhurst said Wallace’s passion for creative design and his advocacy for the wider benefits of good architecture made him “a hugely popular figure with audiences and across the industry”.

“On RTÉ’s hugely popular Home of the Year, Hugh, with his fellow judges, not only opened the door to the most extraordinary homes in Ireland, but he also inspired viewers to engage with the vast possibilities of innovative design,” he said.

Mr Bakhurst added that he greatly admired Wallace’s openness about his own life story, “which helped so many”, and said: “Our thoughts are with his husband Martin, his family, his colleagues in Shinawil, Animo and RTÉ, and his many close associates for whom Hugh was a beloved colleague, inspiring mind, and the warmest of friends. Ar dheis Dé go raibh a anam.”

Speaking to Brendan Courtney on RTÉ Radio 1, interior designer Sarah Cosgrove, who worked with Wallace on Home of the Year said: “It’s just devastating. He was so full of life. I think that was the energy that Hugh brought to everything he did.

“He was an incredible person and an incredible husband to Martin.

“I met him a few weeks ago and it was just craic, that is what you were always guaranteed.”

In interviews, Wallace spoke candidly about his personal life, including his experience of alcoholism and his decision to seek help, describing himself as having been given “a second chance at life”. He used his profile to highlight the need for better support for people struggling with addiction and encouraged others to ask for help.

In recent years, he also documented the renovation of his own Dublin home, describing his ambition to create a “super home for the future” and reflecting on sustainability, comfort and ageing in place.

He continued to lead a busy architectural practice alongside his broadcasting work and remained a regular commentator on housing, design and how to make a house feel like a home.

Wallace is survived by his husband, hairdresser Martin Corbett. He often spoke about the life they built side by side, renovating a series of homes and joking that their shared love of doing up houses had made their life “a bit nomadic”.