Sir Valentine Browne is appointed Surveyor General of Ireland by Queen Elizabeth I, beginning a 450-year long family landlord legacy in Killarney. One of family’s earliest residences is Ross Castle on the shores of the Lakes of Killarney.

King James II of England gives Sir Valentine Browne the 3rd  Baronet, the title of Viscount Kenmare and Baron Castlerosse, beginning the reign of the Kenmare-Castlerosse dynasty.

One of the most remarkable residences of the Kenmare-Castlerosse family, part of a 137,000 acre estate, is built and designed by Viscount Kenmare overlooking the shores of Lough Leane in Killarney. It is called Kenmare House.

On her world-famous visit, Queen Victoria spends three days in Killarney, one night with Lord and Lady Castlerosse at the Kenmare Residence, and the following two at Muckross House with the Herbert Family. Inspired by her grand visit, the 4th Earl of Kenmare decides to build a new house that may serve for other similar grand occasions.

The vision for the new Kenmare-Castlerosse Residence, a vast Victorian-Tudor Manor House and successor to Kenmare House is realised on an elevated site with views of Lough Leane and the MacGillycuddy Reeks. This new red brick Manor House costs over £100,000 and is considered one of the finest mansions in Ireland. It is suitably called Killarney House.

In August of 1913, the Kenmare-Castlerosse Residence of Killarney House burns down. Shortly after, the 5th Earl of Kenmare decides to convert the nearby old stable block of Kenmare House to their new headquarters. This becomes the second Kenmare House.

The 6th Earl of Kenmare and possibly the most famous and colourful of all the Kenmare Earls, Lord Viscount Castlerosse dies and is laid to rest in the family vault in St. Mary’s Cathedral, Killarney.

Lord Castlerosse’s successor and the last Earl of Kenmare, his brother Gerald Browne dies and too is laid to rest in St. Mary’s Cathedral, Killarney.

Beatrice Grosvenor, niece to the 6th and 7th Earls of Kenmare, the grand-daughter of the Duke of Westminister and the last of the Kenmare-Castlerosse Dynasty arrives in Ireland to look after her deceased uncles’ affairs.  She settles in Killarney and builds a home for herself – Knockreer House – on the ruins of the former Killarney House.

Beatrice Grosvenor sells the second Kenmare House and part of the demesne (25,000 acres) to an American Syndicate to pay off the death duties accumulated by the demise of the last Earls of Kenmare. She retains the lands around the Royal Victoria Hotel, one of Ireland’s greatest hotels, visited by Queen Victoria’s son, King Edward VII in 1885.

The property of Kenmare House and land around it is sold to John McShain, a building contractor famed for building the Pentagon. He and his wife Mary J. Horstmann extensively renovate the building and rename it as Killarney House.

Lady Grosvenor, as she is locally known, builds the Castlerosse Drive-In Motel on the original site of Royal Victoria Hotel in front of the Lower Lake. The Hotel is officially opened by Mr. Jack Lynch T.D Minister for Industry and Commerce and is the first hotel in Killarney to have a swimming pool.

Lady Grosvenor builds a new home for herself adjacent to the Castlerosse Drive-In Motel. She calls it Kenmare House, keeping the legacy of her ancestors alive.

Beatrice Grosvenor dies and becomes the fifteenth member of the Kenmare-Castlerosse family to be laid to rest under the Kenmare Vault of St. Mary’s Cathedral in Killarney. On her death, the 40 bedrooms of the Castlerosse Hotel is acquired by the current owners. Kenmare House is purchased by Denis Kelleher, (now deceased). Denis was a Kerry man who emigrated to the USA in the late 50s and became a successful stockbroker on Wall Street. He is pictured enjoying his role of Grand Marshall at New York’s St. Patrick’s Day Parade in 2005.

The Kelleher Family and Castlerosse Park Resort come together to offer Kenmare House on the tourist rental market following major upgrading and refurbishment of the property.