1816 – Former Whitworth Hospital, Morning Star Ave., Dublin

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“Parliament was again petitioned successfully by the Governors [of the North Union] in 1815. Two years later a plain stone building consisting of two wings, each two storeys high over a basement, containing 82 beds, was erected and named after Charles, Earl of Whitworth, Lord Lieutenant of Ireland from 1813 to 1817.”

“The front of this somewhat austere looking building was devoid of any ornament except for a plain triangular pediment below which the name of the hospital and the date of foundation were inscribed. The central portion of the hospital contained a large hall (later encroached upon by additional rooms), physicians’ rooms and a staircase at either side. On the upper floor, a large room was originally used as a dormitory for the resident medical students, with adjoining sitting rooms. The Whitworth Hospital in its early years admitted patients suffering from non-contagious chronic illnesses, ‘such as inflammation of the lungs, the bowels, and the head’, and was known as the ‘Whitworth Chronic Hospital.”.
The House of Industry Hospitals 1772-1987, 1988

The Whitworth Hospital was designed as a hospital for chronic patients of the House of Industry (workhouse) just north of it in Grangegorman. Named after the Charles Whitworth, 1st Earl Whitworth, Lord Lieutenant of Ireland 1813-17. It is a detached eleven-bay, two-storey building over basement with central pedimented blocks – four-bay extensions to east and west elevations were added c.1900 by Carroll & Batchelor. It has inscribed granite bands on the pediments to each elevation, reading ‘WHITWORTH HOSPITAL’ to front and ‘WHITWORTH HOSPITAL A.D. MDCCCXVI’. It closed permanently in November 1987 when the Beaumont Hospital opened. In 2002, the building was acquired by the Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation, which has converted it for use as a meeting, training and study centre. Now known as Whitworth Hall.

Published October 3, 2024 | Last Updated October 5, 2024