1954 – Nursery Centre, Maryland, Dublin

In the 1940s and 1950s, the Ladies Committee of the Civics Institute set up two nursery schools – one in Mountjoy Square called St Brigid’s which opened in 1941, and this one in Maryland called St. Joseph’s. Both were designed by architect Máirín Hope (1914-2009). The Civics Institute was intended to promote town planning in Ireland. In the 1930s the Institute extended its activities to include the establishment of Children’s playgrounds, and then onto a couple of nurseries.

The estate of Maryland was started in 1928 and completed in 1932, the year of the Eucharistic Congress in Dublin, which influenced the names of the area and streets by Dublin Corporation in conjunction with the local parish priest.

The nurseries were founded for local women who were mothers of young children but needed to work. In those days these children would have mostly been left to their own devices. Mountjoy Square was the first nursery centre in Ireland, catering for children from 2-5 years of age. The main aims were to teach independence and life skills around dressing and washing oneself and to socialise the children by playing with other children of the same age.

The Maryland building as designed was based on then current Scandinavian thoughts on childhood early education. The plan shows how the building interacts with the outdoor play space which is separated from the street by the building itself. It had large opening doorways from the large playroom which was clad externally in timber.

The Mountjoy Square Nursery remains today closer in appearance to its finished appearance – while Maryland has seen some changes to the exterior.