Under the granite wall and railings of 1842, just within the Fellows’ Garden, and opposite the northern end of Dawson Street, is the old Holy Well of St. Patrick, a sacred spring from which St. Patrick’s Well Lane took its earlier name; now neglected and ill-cared for, but once the most celebrated holy well in Dublin, and the resort of numerous pilgrims and devotees from all parts of Ireland. At the extreme south-east corner of the College precincts, opening on to Lincoln Place, is a handsome granite gateway, with large iron gates and a porter’s lodge in cut stone, erected in 1855, in place of a mean doorway familiarly known as “The Hole in the Wall.” This entrance, which affords the most convenient access to all Collegians residing in the east and south-east, at present the more fashionable quarters of the town, is of special advantage to the Medical students, whose Lecture Rooms and Laboratories are situated just inside the gate. When these were completed in 1888, the ground between them and the gate was newly laid out and planted. And it is proposed, on the falling in of the leases of the row of houses between the Lincoln Place gate and the east end of the granite wall and railings in Nassau Street, to pull down the houses and shops, and continue the railings up to the gate in Lincoln Place, a distance of 120 yards; an improvement which will be equally great both to the College and the adjacent City property. One of the most striking views of the College grounds is from the windows of Kildare Street Club, the finest house in Nassau Street, and itself a striking object as seen from the College Park.
THE MEDICAL SCHOOL.
THE MEDICAL SCHOOL.
The Medical School, which is shown in the illustration on [p. 229], was built in 1886, from the designs of Mr. J. M‘Curdy (who died in that year), developed by Mr. Thomas Drew, under whose supervision the entire work was carried out. The site is one of the finest, and would be, perhaps, the finest in the College, were it not for the ugly back view of a building in dull grey cement, put up for the accommodation of the Cricket Club, that shuts off the view of and from the College Park. The Medical School has a frontage of 140 feet to the west, and two wings, extending 150 feet eastward, at right angles to the façade. The whole of this 440 feet is in fine cut granite. The main door is in the centre of the principal elevation, and three tiers of fourteen windows, those in the first and third stories being square, those in the second story round-headed, are disposed in pairs, without ornamentation or special architectural feature of any kind. Yet the building, if somewhat severe in character, is appropriate to the objects for which it is destined, and is, as a whole, entirely satisfactory. For six feet from the ground the masonry is of rustic ashlar; from thence to the eaves, fine cut granite. Behind the building, and enclosed by the wings, is a yard containing the pumping engine, by which the Park is kept dry even in the wettest weather. The water is drained into a reservoir, and pumped from thence through iron pipes into the river Liffey, which at low tide only is some feet below the College Park. In comparatively recent times all this part of the grounds was swampy, and in wet winters impassable. And that part of the Park between the Museum and the New Square is still called the Wilderness. To the north of the yard of the Medical School, and separated by six feet from the north wing of the Museum, is the Histological Laboratory, built in 1880. It is 85 feet long by 30 feet broad, with two tiers of seven windows, alternately square and round headed, looking to the north.
THE MEDICAL SCHOOL.
The Medical School, which is shown in the illustration on [p. 229], was built in 1886, from the designs of Mr. J. M‘Curdy (who died in that year), developed by Mr. Thomas Drew, under whose supervision the entire work was carried out. The site is one of the finest, and would be, perhaps, the finest in the College, were it not for the ugly back view of a building in dull grey cement, put up for the accommodation of the Cricket Club, that shuts off the view of and from the College Park. The Medical School has a frontage of 140 feet to the west, and two wings, extending 150 feet eastward, at right angles to the façade. The whole of this 440 feet is in fine cut granite. The main door is in the centre of the principal elevation, and three tiers of fourteen windows, those in the first and third stories being square, those in the second story round-headed, are disposed in pairs, without ornamentation or special architectural feature of any kind. Yet the building, if somewhat severe in character, is appropriate to the objects for which it is destined, and is, as a whole, entirely satisfactory. For six feet from the ground the masonry is of rustic ashlar; from thence to the eaves, fine cut granite. Behind the building, and enclosed by the wings, is a yard containing the pumping engine, by which the Park is kept dry even in the wettest weather. The water is drained into a reservoir, and pumped from thence through iron pipes into the river Liffey, which at low tide only is some feet below the College Park. In comparatively recent times all this part of the grounds was swampy, and in wet winters impassable. And that part of the Park between the Museum and the New Square is still called the Wilderness. To the north of the yard of the Medical School, and separated by six feet from the north wing of the Museum, is the Histological Laboratory, built in 1880. It is 85 feet long by 30 feet broad, with two tiers of seven windows, alternately square and round headed, looking to the north.