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| Established | 1838 |
|---|---|
| Location | Dublin ,Ireland |
Albert College was an agricultural college in the northern suburbs ofDublin, Ireland. Today its former main building, known as theAlbert College Building, built 1851, is the oldest building on theGlasnevin campus ofDublin City University and contains the offices of theuniversity president, and other executive offices of the university. The Albert College Building also houses the 1838 Club, a restaurant for staff and postgraduate research students.[1] The adjoiningAlbert College Extension, with laboratories for the school of engineering, was opened in 1985.
In 1838, John Pitt Kennedy, the first inspector-general of the nascent IrishNational School system, acquired land forthe Crown for the specific purpose of building a central model farm and training establishment for National School teachers. The teachers were to be taught how to give instruction to children not only in reading, writing, and arithmetic but also in practical and innovative methods of agriculture. Albert College started life in 1838 asGlasnevin Model Farm, sometimesThe Glasnevin Institute. It was originally based inCuilin House.
It was renamed theAlbert National Agricultural Training Institution in 1853 after a visit byPrince Albert. The foundation of the college was an important event in the history of agriculturaleducation in Ireland, which trained primary school teachers to the standards required by theBoard of National Education in Ireland for the teaching of agriculture, additionally, it also trained those whose aim was to pursue a career in agriculture. The board established twenty model agricultural schools and provided manynational schools with small holdings or gardens. Because of religious opposition andlaissez-faire economic policies, the board was forced to discontinue support for the schools holdings in 1863 and in 1874 disposed of most of the model farms. Albert College survived, probably because it was not exclusively concerned with the board's educational policies — it also carried outresearch work in new crop varieties, farming methods and breeding livestock.
In 1902 the nameAlbert Agricultural College was adopted. In 1905 the West Wing was added with residential accommodation, and the East Wing in 1927.
In the early 20th century Paul A. Murphy, Professor of plant pathology, made a significant scientific breakthrough in the study ofphytophthera infestans, the fungus which causespotato blight. In the definitive work on theIrish Famine -The Great Hunger - the authorCecil Woodham-Smith states that since Ireland suffered so much from the blight it was "by a stroke of poetic justice that it was in Ireland that much of the final research was carried out... at the Albert College in Glasnevin, Dublin".
In 1926 the Faculty of General Agriculture ofUniversity College Dublin (UCD) moved onto the site as a result of the University Education (Agriculture and Dairy Science) Act, 1926, and the establishment became part of UCD.[2][3]
In 1964 University College, Dublin, approved the sale of 359 acres (145 ha) of the Albert College lands toDublin Corporation, 212 acres (86 ha) of these were on a separate northern site which is now centralBallymun — theAlbert College Park lands were also transferred to Dublin Corporation at this time and continue to be used as apublic park. The sale occurred because the imminent transfer of the Faculty of Agriculture toBelfield became apparent, also a housing crisis occurred in Dublin during the 1960s as a number of old, dilapidated buildings collapsed in the city and land for housing near the city became urgently required.
University College, Dublin, finally vacated the site in 1979.
The fledglingNIHE, Dublin moved on site in 1979, vacating its inner city offices. In 1989 theNIHE becameDublin City University, and continued its capital development plan on the 50-acre (20 ha) former Albert College lands that it owns.
The original college building now contains the first floor offices of theuniversity president, which look towards the official residence of the president, a lodge at the edge of the grounds.[4] Also in the building are the offices of other senior officials of the university, and those of the institution's fund-raising body, the DCU Educational Trust, and the 1838 Club, a restaurant for staff and postgraduate research students.[5] The adjoiningAlbert College Extension, with laboratories for the school of engineering, was opened in 1985.
