Iconic hospital building up for grabs at €3.5m

Dublin's Old Richmond Hospital dates back more than a century and has served as both a hospital and courthouse.

Now on the market, the protected building has attracted strong interest from potential buyers.

Constructed as the Richmond Surgical Hospital in the 1890s, the North Brunswick Street building was used most recently as a courthouse.

The Office of Public Works rented it as a courthouse from 1996 to 2011 but ceased to do so after the new Criminal Courts of Justice opened on Parkgate Street.

Already, estate agent Space Commercial has had interest from a variety of parties – despite having been on the market for just two weeks.

"We've had a good few viewings on it. There has been good interest. It could be a number of uses because it's quite a unique building.

"It used to be the Dublin District Court and they left it in perfect condition," the company's Adam McCormack told the Herald.

"If you walked in now it looks like modern office space, so it could potentially be let out in chunks in office space or it could be an office headquarters for somebody.

"Alternatively, it could be for educational use. A few people have been looking at it from a residential point of view, as in splitting it up into apartments or student accommodation because Grangegorman is behind it, which is the new DIT campus," he said.

Dublin businessman Rory O'Meara acquired the protected building in Dublin 7 in the early 1990s.

Converted

The Richmond originally formed part of a complex of three hospitals which also included the Whitworth and Hardwick.

They were collectively known as St Laurence's.

Developer Liam Carroll, of Zoe Developments, converted the Hardwick into an apartment block.

While the Whitworth has been owned since 2002 by the Irish Nurses' Organisation, which uses it for meetings.

hnews@herald.ie