1867 – St. Saviour’s Orphanage, Little Denmark Street, Dublin

A chapel existed here since 1780. When the Church of St Saviour on Dominick Street was completed in 1861, this building became Saint Saviours School and Orphanage, known as Scoil Naomi Sláinaitheora. Set back from the street line, allowing the two neighbouring buildings to form a small courtyard to the front. The school along with Little Denmark Street and the surrounding streets were demolished around 1974, it was replaced by the ILAC Centre in 1981.

According to the Dominican Order in a booklet celebrating the centenary of their church on Dominick Street in 1961, “The orphanage, one of the oldest for Catholic boys in Dublin, appears to have been under the direction, if not the control of the Order since 1780. For many years it consisted of some old stables in Chapel Lane (a narrow alley beside the old Dominican chapel in Denmark Street) fitted up to accommodate twenty-five destitute children and provide for them until apprenticed….”

“…The change was not finally made until the Catholic Young Men’s Society, tenants for a while of the chapel and chapel house, gave up possession in 1867. Both the old chapel and priory were ruinous from roof to cellar and had to be repaired. Under the National Board the chapel was converted into three schools. The gallery became the girls’ school; the flat was divided between the orphans and the other boys. Denmark Street priory was now St. Saviour’s orphanage and so remained for sixty years, the boys attending the National School beside them.” In 1927, the orphanage moved to 20 Dominick Street.