Demolition is to begin today of a building in Cashel, Co Tipperary, considered to be of historical and architectural importance.
The former nurses' home in the grounds of Our Lady's Hospital, built around 1940, is to be knocked down as part of a redevelopment being carried out by the South Eastern Health Board.
The decision to pull down the building was described yesterday as a "huge mistake" by a Dublin-based architect Mr Alan Butler, of McDonnell & Dixon.
A spokeswoman for the health board, however, said the building was not listed and the board had planning permission for the redevelopment. She confirmed that demolition would begin today.
Mr Butler, who is currently carrying out research on urban renewal in Cashel, said the hospital complex, comprising the nurses' home, main hospital building and a gate lodge, were designed by Vincent Kelly in what was known as the "international style".
He said Kelly was one of a number of architects hired by the de Valera government in the 1930s and 1940s to design public buildings. The Cashel hospital project was heavily influenced by a sanatorium designed by a leading architect of the time, Alvar Aalto, in his native Finland.
Well-known buildings in the international style include the first terminal building at Dublin Airport and Busáras bus station, both now protected structures.
Mr Butler said while there was rightly great concern in Ireland for the protection of Georgian buildings, comparatively little attention was paid to the country's 20th century building stock. The nurses' home was an important part of the hospital complex and anything put in its place would probably be "completely out of character".
Cashel had a "huge variety" of buildings of architectural merit, ranging from the first construction on the Rock of Cashel in 792 to the hospital buildings of the 1940s. He had only learned on Wednesday, when he visited the hospital complex for his research project, of the planned demolition.
The work is part of phase one of redevelopment works valued at €8 million, for which the contracts were signed by the health board last month. Several new buildings are planned, including a 20-bed unit for elderly mentally infirm people, a 25-place day-care centre for people with physical disabilities and a day hospital and day-care centre for mental healthcare services.
