St. Ita's Hospital facts for kids
Quick facts for kids St. Ita's Hospital |
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| Health Service Executive | |
Entrance to St Ita's Hospital
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 Location in Ireland
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| Geography | |
| Location | Portrane, Dublin, Republic of Ireland |
| Coordinates | 53°29′12″N 6°06′47″W / 53.486798°N 6.113066°W |
| Organisation | |
| Care system | HSE |
| Hospital type | Specialist |
| Services | |
| Beds | 200 |
| Speciality | Psychiatric Hospital |
| History | |
| Founded | 1903 |
| Closed | 2014 |
St. Ita's Hospital (Irish: Ospidéal Naomh Ita) was a special hospital for mental health care. It was located in Portrane, a town in the north of County Dublin, Ireland.
Contents
History
Building a New Hospital
St. Ita's Hospital was built on a large piece of land. This land, about 460 acres (1.86 square kilometers), used to be the home of the Evans family. A famous architect named George Ashlin designed the hospital. He used a style called Gothic Revival, which looks like old castles or churches. The hospital opened in 1903 and was first called the Portrane Asylum. It was a very expensive building for its time.
Interesting Times
An Irish leader named Michael Staines was in charge of the hospital's board. Once, in 1920, he even stayed there overnight while he was trying to avoid being caught.
In December 1983, a radio station called St. Ita's Hospital Radio started broadcasting. It was the first radio station in the Republic of Ireland to get a new license when new broadcasting rules came out in 1988.
Changes and Closure
In the late 1980s, hospitals started to change how they cared for people. This change, called deinstitutionalisation, meant fewer people stayed in large hospitals for a long time. Because of this, St. Ita's Hospital began to decline.
In 2005, a TV show called The Asylum featured St. Ita's Hospital. Nearly 500,000 people watched this episode.
By 2010, the hospital was told to stop taking new patients. This was because the conditions were not good enough. The hospital stopped taking patients in March 2011. It then fully closed in January 2014.
What's Next for the Site?
In 2012, the Health Service Executive (HSE) announced that a new hospital would be built on the old St. Ita's site. This new hospital, the Central Mental Hospital, is a very important project. It is expected to be finished around late 2019.
Images for kids
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A view of St. Ita's Hospital
