Educating primary school teachers, and located in a parkland campus in Blackrock, it was a recognised college of the National University of Ireland from April 1975.

Aside from the college, the estate accommodated the headquarters of the Sisters of Mercy, a novitiate for the order, a hall of residence, an orphanage, a restaurant, a national school, and several gate lodges, occupied by current or former staff.

Others include the geographer Sr. Stella Fitzpatrick I.B.V.M, the writer Sophia Hillan, former senator Marie-Louise O'Donnell taught speech and drama[5] and the mathematician John B. Cosgrave lectured in Carysfort, In 1986 the Minister for Education Gemma Hussey announced the decision to close the 111-year-old College.

She attributed the decision to "falling pupil numbers, a young teaching force, which was giving rise to few retirements, and the need to contain public expenditure and achieve 'a better allocation of resources.'".

The most developed 20 acres (8.1 ha) of the estate, including the main buildings, were eventually sold to University College Dublin (UCD) in 1991 for IR£8 million, after much speculation – it was not an unusual thing for the state to get property at a much reduced price at the time.

This also led to further controversy as it was claimed that the university college was forced to purchase a property that it neither needed nor wanted – especially as its Belfield campus nearby was more than adequate for future expansion.