We are an alliance of conservationists, architects, politicians and Hume Street neighbours. We ardently wish to see a successful sale of the Hume Street Hospital. It is only with the engagement of an enlightened owner that the building- and the street of which it is the heart- can be reborn.
- The former Hospital has a 100 year history of service to the people of Dublin
- This historic street has lost too much already and is need of revitalization
(tender deadline MAY 25th Download brochure).
Hume street, off St. Stephen’s green, Dublin, Ireland, dates from 1768 and is the scene of two battles to save Dublin’s Georgian city , one in 1969/70 and the other now unfolding……… The disused Dublin Skin and Cancer Hospital, a vandalized victim of Ireland’s banking crisis, is for sale and faces an uncertain future.
What we are doing and how you can help – click here
Essential Maintenance:
Concerns have been raised in the past to the legal owner and to AIB (who hold the loan). Emergency maintenance is needed to treat the encroaching dry rot which threatens this 250 year old “protected structure”.
Our vision: former cancer hospital as an innovation HUB ?
We have suggestions for reuse which may interest potential buyers and investors, including a creative, innovative HUB which would give back socially and to the economy. Many international studies show that finding appropriate and sustainable reuse is one of the best ways to save historic buildings. Check out our beta proposal
Irish Heritage at Risk
The plight of this one iconic building highlights Ireland’s endangered built heritage post boom .
2011-2012 Save Hume Street from destruction campaign
The former Dublin Skin and Cancer Hospital (see in google street view below), housed in six interconnecting Georgian buildings and vacant for six years, was vandalized and stripped by metal thieves in February 2011, causing serious water damage. Most of the lead flashing was stolen. Following a mainly online campaign, the roof was fixed after four months, but it has not been maintained since.
If sold it could be knocked and just the facade retained, or it could stay neglected for years waiting for redevelopment and be beyond viable repair unless we act now, It’s not just the loss of our history – buildings like this attract criminal behaviour, bring down the neighborhood and are victims of accidental fires and arson. The old Skin and Cancer Hospital needs a new breath of life so it can revitalize this street. More on the new campaign
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Battle of Hume Street
One of the most famous conservation battles in Dublin, ‘The Battle of Hume Street’, began in June 1969 when students occupied the buildings at the corner of St Stephen’s Green and Hume Street to prevent them being demolished by the Green Property company. It made international news and was debated in the Dail at the time: Historical debates 1969 Oireachtas – Hume Street
Though unsuccessful, protesters, including Garret Fitzgerald, Mary (Bourke) Robinson, Ruairi Quinn, Marian Finucane, Duncan Stewart – prevented further destruction of other period buildings on the street. The developer ended up building Georgian pastiche buildings on the site which you can see on google street view below. more on the Battle of Hume Street
City of Dublin Skin and Cancer Hospital
The former Hospital consists of six interconnected buildings on the South East end of the street. Founded in 1911 by Andrew Charles FRCSI and originally known as the Dublin City Skin & Cancer Hospital, it moved to a new research facility in UCD late 2006, selling the property to a developer for €30 million. more on the history of the Hospital
A History of Hume Street
Hume Street, in the heart of Georgian Dublin, was first laid out in 1768 by surgeon and developer Gustavus Hume. It runs from the east side of St. Stephens Green into Ely Place, with Ely House at the top. Up until 1969 it was an intact Georgian street. The father of Irish Geology, Richard Griffith was born in No 8.
Like most Georgian houses in Dublin the houses in Hume Street had very plain exteriors, however inside they were elaborately decorated with the finest plasterwork. The hospital cluster is Rococo in style and on the older side of the street – the original interiors are in need of careful restoration.
www.humestreet.com for a neighbour’s history of the street.
Restoration of another Hume Street house with superb plasterwork
Former residents
The father of Irish Geology, Richard Giffith was born in number 8 Hume Street. Stephen Myles MacSwiney, M.D., Fellow of the College of Physicians and member of the Royal Irish Academy lived at 1, Hume St. until his death in 1890.
In the 1950s an apartment in the street served as the workplace of backstreet abortionist Mamie Cadden (1891-1951). One of her patients, Helen O’Reilly, died of an air embolism during a procedure to abort a foetus in the fifth month. When her body was found on the pavement in Hume Street, Cadden was arrested and tried for murder. She was sentenced to death by hanging in 1956, but this was commuted to life imprisonment after public appeals for clemency and due to the unintentional nature of Helen O’Reilly’s death.
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Background image is a letter from the 18th Century by Hume Street artist David McDermott: In March 2011 he wrote to the then Taoiseach Brian Cowen, warning him of the danger to the city from the vandals “inciting an economic panic”
