The Graduates Memorial Building (GMB) is a neo-Gothic Victorian building, in

Trinity College Dublin , name_Latin = Collegium Sanctae et Individuae Trinitatis Reginae Elizabethae juxta Dublin , motto = ''Perpetuis futuris temporibus duraturam'' (Latin) , motto_lang = la , motto_English = It will last i ...

Sir Thomas Drew Sir Thomas Drew (18 September 1838 – 13 March 1910) was an Anglo-Irish architect. Life Thomas Drew was born in Victoria Place, Belfast. He was the son of the Rev. Thomas Drew and Isabella (née Dalton) Drew. He was one of four sons and ei ...

in 1897. It is home to Trinity College's oldest student societies: the

University Philosophical Society The University Philosophical Society (UPS; ), commonly known as The Phil, is a student paper-reading and debating society in Trinity College, Dublin, Ireland. Founded in 1683 it is the oldest student, collegial and paper-reading society in t ...

(the Phil), the

College Historical Society The College Historical Society (CHS) – popularly referred to as The Hist – is a debating society at Trinity College Dublin. It was established within the college in 1770 and was inspired by the club formed by the philosopher Edmund ...

(the Hist) and the College Theological Society (the Theo).

Construction and design

The Graduates Memorial Building, originally named the ''Graduates' Tercentenary Memorial Building'', was constructed to celebrate three hundred years of

's existence. In May 1897, tenders were invited by

, to design a replacement for the residential buildings known as Rotten Row. These buildings were almost architecturally indistinguishable from

The Rubrics The Rubrics is the oldest building within Trinity College Dublin. Although the exact date is unknown, it was designed and built in c.1700. Today, the Rubrics are used as rooms for students and fellows. Construction and design Originally part o ...

, which stood from circa 1700. Designs were submitted by Robert John Stirling,

Thomas Newenham Deane Sir Thomas Newenham Deane (1828 – 8 November 1899) was an Irish architect, the son of Sir Thomas Deane and Eliza Newenham, and the father of Sir Thomas Manly Deane. His father and son were also architects. Works attributed to Thomas Newen ...

and

, with Drew's being selected. The design of the building is such that it is divided into three houses: House 28, and House 30, as student residences, with House 29 in the centre of the building, being used by the societies. In 1899 Rotten Row was demolished and work began on the new building. Its construction was largely financed by subscriptions from graduates, and was opened on 31 May 1902.

Interior

The building has a vast interior, largely dedicated to debating, scholarly endeavour and use by the three societies who occupy it. It has various rooms spread over its four floors. The central

foyer A lobby is a room in a building used for entry from the outside. Sometimes referred to as a foyer, reception area or an entrance hall, it is often a large room or complex of rooms (in a theatre, opera house, concert hall, showroom, cinema, etc. ...

contains a large wooden staircase, which stretches vertically from the ground floor to the second floor.

Ground floor

The ground floor houses its Debating Chamber, frequently used by The Phil and The Hist, specifically designed for oratory purposes, with its two-floor high ceiling, carved balcony and Ionic pilasters. On the chamber's west wall is a bronze relief of George Ferdinand Shaw former Librarian of the Phil and Senior Fellow of the College. The conversation room of the

is also on the ground floor, and provides its membership with a meeting area to sit, talk, and relax. Its conversation room also plays host to the society's paper reading sub-group, The Bram Stoker Club. Halfway between the ground floor and first floor is the Phil's council room, which has the only access to the debating chamber's

balcony A balcony (from it, balcone, "scaffold") is a platform projecting from the wall of a building, supported by columns or console brackets, and enclosed with a balustrade, usually above the ground floor. Types The traditional Maltese balcony ...

. Further up the stairs and facing onto Library Square is a large stained glass window depicting

Epaminondas Epaminondas (; grc-gre, Ἐπαμεινώνδας; 419/411–362 BC) was a Greek general of Thebes and statesman of the 4th century BC who transformed the Ancient Greek city-state, leading it out of Spartan subjugation into a pre-eminent posit ...

and

Demosthenes Demosthenes (; el, Δημοσθένης, translit=Dēmosthénēs; ; 384 – 12 October 322 BC) was a Greek statesman and orator in ancient Athens. His orations constitute a significant expression of contemporary Athenian intellectual pr ...

, the greatest of all the Greek orators. It was dedicated to the memory of Marshall Porter, a university graduate killed in the Boer War.

First floor

On the first floor is the

's conversation room, used to provide its members with a relaxed meeting place. The society also has its committee room on this floor, which has a higher ceiling and larger windows the one below. Trinity College tradition holds that the rooms of the society's founder

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, were in House 28 of Rotten Row, Library square, and as such, part of the location upon which the building stands today. The Hist Conversation Room was used as a location in the film ''

Educating Rita ''Educating Rita'' is a stage comedy by British playwright Willy Russell. It is a play for two actors set entirely in the office of an Open University tutor. Commissioned by the Royal Shakespeare Company, ''Educating Rita'' premièred at The Wa ...

''.

Second floor

The second floor contains the Bram Stoker room, owned by the

, which is used as the society's office space as well as small archival library. The society also grants almost full access to this room to the College Theological Society as a gesture of good faith between both societies. Beyond a pair large doors that exit off the foyer are the buildings and two large

billiards Cue sports are a wide variety of games of skill played with a cue, which is used to strike billiard balls and thereby cause them to move around a cloth-covered table bounded by elastic bumpers known as . There are three major subdivisions ...

rooms, jointly owned and operated between both The Phil and The Hist.

Third floor

The third floor houses one of the college's computer rooms. Directly opposite to which is a library owned the Hist, which contains part of the societies' large collections of books and records.

Fire in 2000

The upper floors of the building were damaged by a fire on Friday 15 December 2000, for a time threatening the societies with bankruptcy.

References

External links

*Irish Arichectural Archive
/span> *University Philosophical Society
/span> *College Historical Society
/span> *College Theological Society
/span> {{Trinity College, Dublin Buildings and structures of Trinity College Dublin