The Graduates Memorial Building (GMB) is a neo-Gothic Victorian building, in

Trinity College Dublin Trinity College Dublin (), officially titled The College of the Holy and Undivided Trinity of Queen Elizabeth near Dublin, and legally incorporated as Trinity College, the University of Dublin (TCD), is the sole constituent college of the Unive ...

designed by Sir Thomas Drew in 1897. It is home to Trinity College's oldest student societies: the University Philosophical Society (the Phil), the

College Historical Society The College Historical Society (CHS) – popularly referred to as The Hist – is a debating society at Trinity College Dublin. It was established within the college in 1770 and was inspired by the club formed by the philosopher Edmund ...

(the Hist) and the College Theological Society (the Theo).

Construction and design

The Graduates Memorial Building, originally named the ''Graduates' Tercentenary Memorial Building'', was constructed to celebrate three hundred years of

's existence. In May 1897, tenders were invited by

, to design a replacement for the residential buildings known as Rotten Row. These buildings were almost architecturally indistinguishable from The Rubrics, which stood from circa 1700. Designs were submitted by Robert John Stirling, Thomas Newenham Deane and Sir Thomas Drew, with Drew's being selected. The design of the building is such that it is divided into three houses: House 28, and House 30, as student residences, with House 29 in the centre of the building, being used by the societies. In 1899 Rotten Row was demolished and work began on the new building. Its construction was largely financed by subscriptions from graduates, and was opened on 31 May 1902.

Interior

The building has a vast interior, largely dedicated to debating, scholarly endeavour and use by the three societies who occupy it. It has various rooms spread over its four floors. The central

foyer A lobby is a room in a building used for entry from the outside. Sometimes referred to as a foyer, entryway, reception area or entrance hall, it is often a large room or complex of rooms (in a theatre, opera house, concert hall, showroom, cine ...

contains a large wooden staircase, which stretches vertically from the ground floor to the second floor.

Ground floor

The ground floor houses its Debating Chamber, frequently used by The Phil, The Hist and The Theo, specifically designed for oratory purposes, with its two-floor high ceiling, carved balcony and Ionic pilasters. On the chamber's west wall is a bronze relief of George Ferdinand Shaw former Librarian of the Phil and Senior Fellow of the college. The conversation room of the University Philosophical Society is also on the ground floor, and provides its membership with a meeting area to sit, talk, and relax. Its conversation room also plays host to the society's paper reading sub-group, The Bram Stoker Club. Halfway between the ground floor and first floor is the Phil's council room, which has the only access to the debating chamber's

balcony A balcony (from , "scaffold") is a platform projecting from the wall of a building, supported by columns or console brackets, and enclosed with a balustrade, usually above the ground floor. They are commonly found on multi-level houses, apartme ...

. Further up the stairs and facing onto Library Square is a large

stained glass Stained glass refers to coloured glass as a material or art and architectural works created from it. Although it is traditionally made in flat panels and used as windows, the creations of modern stained glass artists also include three-dimensio ...

window depicting

Epaminondas Epaminondas (; ; 419/411–362 BC) was a Greeks, Greek general and statesman of the 4th century BC who transformed the Ancient Greece, Ancient Greek polis, city-state of Thebes, Greece, Thebes, leading it out of Spartan subjugation into a pre ...

and

Demosthenes Demosthenes (; ; ; 384 – 12 October 322 BC) was a Greek statesman and orator in ancient Athens. His orations constitute a significant expression of contemporary Athenian intellectual prowess and provide insight into the politics and cu ...

, the greatest of all the Greek orators. It was dedicated to the memory of Marshall Porter, a university graduate killed in the Boer War.

First floor

On the first floor is the

's conversation room, used to provide its members with a relaxed meeting place. The society also has its committee room on this floor, which has a higher ceiling and larger windows than the one below. Trinity College tradition holds that the rooms of the society's founder

Edmund Burke Edmund Burke (; 12 January ew Style, NS1729 – 9 July 1797) was an Anglo-Irish Politician, statesman, journalist, writer, literary critic, philosopher, and parliamentary orator who is regarded as the founder of the Social philosophy, soc ...

, were in House 28 of Rotten Row, Library square, and as such, part of the location upon which the building stands today. The Hist Conversation Room was used as a location in the film '' Educating Rita''.

Second floor

The second floor contains the Bram Stoker room, which hosts an office space as well as a small archival library. The room also houses the academic library and office space of the College Theological Society which is available to their members as a gesture of good faith between both societies. Beyond a pair large doors that exit off the foyer are the buildings and two large

billiards Cue sports are a wide variety of games of skill played with a cue stick, which is used to strike billiard balls and thereby cause them to move around a cloth-covered table bounded by elastic bumpers known as . Cue sports, a category of stic ...

rooms, jointly owned and operated between both The Phil and The Hist.

Third floor

The third floor houses one of the college's computer rooms. Directly opposite to which is a library owned the Hist, which contains part of the societies' large collections of books and records. The upper floors of the building were damaged by a fire in December 2000, threatening the historic books and records of the societies.

References

External links

*Irish Arichectural Archive
/span> *University Philosophical Society
/span> *College Historical Society
/span> *College Theological Society
/span> {{authority control Buildings and structures of Trinity College Dublin