CAMPUS TIMELINE
Belfield 50
Join us as we evoke memories of the evolution of the UCD Belfield campus from its inception in the 1960s to the present day, alongside some key events in the history of the University. The exhibition is available to view in person on the external windows of the basement of the UCD Restaurant building.
1933
UCD acquires 44 acres at Belfield House for £8,000.
1946
UCD acquires 12 acres for playing fields from the Little Sisters of the Poor for £900.
1948
The Irish Government acquires Ardmore House on 20 acres for the development of a new broadcasting centre.
UCD President, Dr Michael Tierney looks to develop Iveagh Gardens/Earlsfort Terrace site with Architecture Professor, J. V. Downes (The Iveagh Plan); to develop Mespil House site; and to develop Royal Hospital Kilmainham site
1949
UCD acquires 23 acres at Montrose Estate for £21,000.
UCD acquires 34 acres at Whiteoaks Estate, including University Lodge, for £30,000.
1951
UCD acquires 60 acres at Merville Estate for £100,000.
Donnybrook Bus Garage, designed by Michael Scott, is completed.
UCD’s Governing Body decides to build on lands acquired at Stillorgan Road.
1952
A plan is devised for the development of a campus for UCD on the Merville Estate. It is drawn up by the UCD Architectural Advisory Group.
UCD President Dr Michael Tierney and his family move into University Lodge.
1953
UCD acquires 18 acres at Woodview Estate for £22,000.
Completion of the Moyne Institute for Medicine at Trinity College, designed by Desmond FitzGerald, professor of architecture at UCD.
Louis Kahn’s Yale University Art Gallery is completed and opened to the public.
1954
UCD acquires 42 acres at Byrne’s Fields for £43,000.
Busáras, designed by Michael Scott, is opened.
1955
UCD acquires 7 acres at Belgrove Estate for £23,750. The house is later demolished in 1973.
A plan is devised for the development of a campus for UCD on the Belgrove Estate. It is drawn up by UCD Architectural Advisory Group.
Crown Hall, a building dedicated to the study of architecture at Illinois Institute of Technology, designed by Mies Van Der Rohe, is completed.
1957
UCD and the Department of Posts and Telegraphs exchange Montrose and Ardmore Estates, after six years of negotiating. Montrose then becomes RTÉ while Ardmore forms the centre of the new Belfield campus.
1958
UCD acquires 5.5 acres at Thornfield Estate for £4,500.
Construction on Inchicore College of Further Education is completed. It is designed by Robinson, Keefe, Devane who later have extensive interactions with the design of the built environment at Belfield.
1959
Government Commission recommends UCD should transfer to the new campus at Belfield.
