1901 – Former Richmond Surgical Hospital, North Brunswick Street, Dublin

In 1810 a former convent became part of the Grangegorman House of Industry (workhouse) who commissioned a hospital to care for the ‘ruptured poor’. A replacement hospital was constructed 1899-1901 to a design by Carroll & Batchelor in the English Renaissance style in red brick and terracotta tiles – with an elaborate street frontage with corner pavilions. It had estimated cost of £25,000, paid for by the donations of a number of generous benefactors. It was officially opened by Earl Cadogan, Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, in April 1901. After the hospital closed in 1987, it was used as a court building for fifteen years starting around 1996. In 2013 it was acquired by the Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation who converted it into an education and event centre. Like many buildings around Ireland that were constructed by the Board of Works, there is a myth that the design was intended for a far-flung British colony – usually because of the exotic Victorian design.