The Archiseek architecture information website includes this description of the building in an extract from The Dublin Builder, October 15, 1864:[4] "The new Carmichael School of Medicine, of which an illustration is given with present number, is rapidly approaching completion, and has been erected, in accordance with a provision in the will of the late Surgeon Richard Carmichael, who made the munificent bequest of £8,000, to be devoted to the cost of the building and the purchase of the ground.
The flanks are faced with black stone for the sake of economy; indeed, it may be well to remark that the extent of the building, the serious and unavoidable extra upon the foundations (nearly £400), and the sum at his disposal, prevented the architect from indulging in any decoration except upon the front, and there only sparingly.
We feel it a duty to record the generosity of Mrs. Carmichael, the widow of the founder, who has nobly endeavoured to second her husband's munificent intentions by placing the money at the immediate disposal of the proprietors, instead of reserving it for her use, as she might have done, until after her death.
The different materials used in the exterior are artistically and quietly disposed, and the details are bold and good, and sufficiently uncommon to deserve more than ordinary notice, in asmuch [sic?]
The vigour and beauty of Gothic detail applied to buildings which, save for these, would present the familiar appearance in general disposition of their parts, of what some people call the "common sense"school.