The Royal Military Infirmary (RMI) is a hospital in

Dublin Dublin is the capital and largest city of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. Situated on Dublin Bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster, and is bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, pa ...

, on the southeastern edge of

Phoenix Park The Phoenix Park () is a large urban park in Dublin, Ireland, lying west of the city centre, north of the River Liffey. Its perimeter wall encloses of recreational space. It includes large areas of grassland and tree-lined avenues, and since ...

(''Páirc an Fhionnuisce''), one of several former British military installations in the area. The hospital buildings are now part of the Irish Department of Defence's (''An Roinn Cosanta'') estate and currently houses Ireland's Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions (''Oifig an Stiúrthóra Ionchúiseamh Poiblí'' - ODPP). The bulk of the British Army's medical services in Dublin were transferred from the RMI to a new hospital at

Arbour Hill Arbour Hill () is an area of Dublin within the inner city on the Northside (Dublin), Northside of the River Liffey, in the Dublin 7 postal district. Arbour Hill, the road of the same name, runs west from Blackhall Place in Stoneybatter, and sep ...

in Dublin in 1913. The Infirmary buildings are protected as they are nationally significant architecture.

History

The original RMI was designed by the English Architect

James Gandon James Gandon (20 February 1743 – 24 December 1823) was an English architect best known for his work in Ireland during the late 18th century and early 19th century. His better known works include The Custom House and the surrounding Beresfor ...

in the late Eighteenth Century. The executant architect for the building's construction was William Gibson, who redesigned some aspects of the building; the building's construction took place from 1786 to 1788. The original construction costs for the infirmary were recorded as £9000. Its design was seen as advanced and best in its class as a military hospital well after its inauguration. The Infirmary's role was to take sick soldiers who could not be adequately dealt with by regimental hospitals in the various barracks of the Dublin Garrison. Between 1824 and 1825 the Infirmary was reconfigured as a military general hospital. In 1806, the costs of the Infirmary and all other medical facilities in Ireland were costing the British Exchequer circa £15418. In 1835 soldier patients were expected to have some of their pay deducted to meet the running costs of the Infirmary. The Infirmary was operating as a general hospital for the British Military during the 1900s and 1910s. However, the British Military had intended to close the hospital in 1911 on the completion of a new hospital which had been commenced in 1909 at Arbour Hill in Dublin. In 1910, the British Government had not decided on a purpose for the old hospital building In 1910, Lieutenant Colonel O Birt, was posted as the senior medical officer in charge of the Royal Military Infirmary. All proving that the Infirmary continued to function well beyond the date the British Government had anticipated. The Infirmary was certainly functioning as a hospital during World War 1. The RMI and all other British Military installations fell under the direct control of the

Irish Free State The Irish Free State (6 December 192229 December 1937), also known by its Irish-language, Irish name ( , ), was a State (polity), state established in December 1922 under the Anglo-Irish Treaty of December 1921. The treaty ended the three-ye ...

(''Saorstát Éireann'') in 1922 and the Department of Defence became the managing entity of the old Infirmary site and that remains the case to the present day. In 2007, there was a proposal to renovate the original Gandon building and adjacent annexe and construct a subterranean annexe to provide new office space for the relocation of the ODPP. This project did not take place as originally conceived.

Site Description

The Infirmary's foundation stone was laid in the presence of the then Lord Lieutenant of Ireland the

Duke of Rutland Duke of Rutland is a title in the Peerage of England, named after Rutland, a county in the East Midlands of England. Earldoms named after Rutland have been created three times; the ninth earl of the third creation was made duke in 1703, in whos ...

on 17 August 1786. The original main three-storey building was designed with a C-shaped footprint; it was built of granite blocks faced with

Portland stone Portland stone is a limestone geological formation (formally named the Portland Stone Formation) dating to the Tithonian age of the Late Jurassic that is quarried on the Isle of Portland in Dorset, England. The quarries are cut in beds of whi ...

. The main facade (circa 60 metres in width) faces southwest on raised ground overlooking the southern entrance of Phoenix Park. This frontage includes a glazed

cupola In architecture, a cupola () is a relatively small, usually dome-like structure on top of a building often crowning a larger roof or dome. Cupolas often serve as a roof lantern to admit light and air or as a lookout. The word derives, via Ital ...

tower that sits above a central clock face. Inside the original Infirmary, there were 13 wards (six allocated to surgical and seven allocated to medical patients) which were mainly located in the two rearward-orientated wings; initially, these wards could accommodate 187 beds. The central building span included offices, staff accommodation, chapel and other facilities.

References

External links

{{Commons category
National Inventory of Architectural Heritage

Curious Ireland The Irish Army Headquarters, Phoenix Park. Dublin City 1786

the National Library of Ireland Catalogue - Royal Infirmary, Phoenix Park, Dublin
1788 establishments in Ireland Former military installations Phoenix Park Hospitals in Dublin (city) Buildings and structures in Dublin (city) Hospitals established in the 1780s Defunct hospitals in the Republic of Ireland Military history of Dublin (city) Georgian architecture in Dublin (city)

History

Site Description

See also

References

External links