1957 – Augustinian Professorium, Ballyboden, Co. Dublin.

Architect: McCormack Keane

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Religious campus that was built around an existing house, completely absorbing it. Designed as a seminary home of students of the Augustinian Order following the two-year course in Philosophy. Work on the new student residence, dedicated to Our Lady of Good Counsel, began in 1955, completed in 1957, and it was used as a student residence until 1980. It was then leased to the Eastern Health Board to become a day care centre, a purpose it fulfilled until December 2015. With two long intersecting blocks, the original house is in the centre of the longer block, and a chapel terminating the other block. The tall windows lighting the santuary had a moulded concrete profile. A modern needle spire is sited at the intersection.

Also known as Bagfield Hall, the building and property have been the subject of planning for several years. Shannon Homes intending to demolish the former Augustinian seminary and replace it with a residential development of 400 apartments with a creché and retail units. After becoming increasingly derelict, it was destroyed by arson in August 2024.

Published May 31, 2025