St Ita's Hospital 2.52

St Ita's Hospital, Portrane, formerly Portrane Asylum is a long stay facility for those with intellectual disabilities and those with long term mental illnesses. It is currently being scaled back in operations with planned mixed-use development. The cultural context of St Ita's in Irish society, and the sheer size of the hospital (the largest public contract ever undertaken in Ireland up to 1890) have made St Ita's Hospital a notable feat of both 19th century civil and social engineering in Ireland.HistoryPortrane Asylum was built at the end of the nineteenth century on what was then an isolated peninsula on the north coast of Dublin. At one time it comprised nearly 500acre running its own farm and providing its own produce.Towards the latter end of the 19th century new attitudes were emerging regarding the care of the mentally ill. The different categories of mental illness were being identified and their separate needs recognised. The cellular "prison-like" institutions where the mentally ill could be kept under restraint were no longer appropriate or desirable. The asylum could no longer be a place of indefinite internment. Facilities for recreation, occupation and exercise were seen as important elements in the design of institutional buildings for the mentally ill.The design for St. Ita's was the subject of a limited architectural competition which was won by George Ashlin. Although his design was very advanced in its concept at that time, his scheme was sanctioned by the Board of Control and accepted by the Board of Governors of the Richmond Lunatic Asylum in 1895. The 'Irish Builder' in its issue of April 15, 1895, records an argument which subsequently erupted within the Royal Institute of the Architects of Ireland, regarding the choice of the winning scheme. Ashlin's design had exceeded the proposed building budget and he had been allowed to revise his scheme to reduce the cost. The eminent architects Thomas Drew, Albert E. Murray and W. Kaye Parry were not happy with the outcome.