The original hospital, which was located in a poor densely populated part of the Liberties but with large grounds, was designed by Samuel Johnston and built by Henry, Mullins & McMahon.

The objectives of the hospital were to care for the diseased in the neighbourhood and prevent the spread of infection in the homes of the poor.

[4] The hospital did succeed in checking the spread of disease, but the worsening unemployment in the Liberties following the Act of Union and occasional epidemics, such as Scarlet fever, pushed up the mortality rate for the first few years of its existence.

Despite the best efforts of all concerned, thousands of victims died and were hastily buried in nearby Bully's Acre.

[2] Notable physicians included: James Whitelaw, the historian and statistician, who was also rector of St. Catherine's, contracted a fever while ministering to the poor in the hospital and died there in February 1813.

[15] The Royal College of Physicians of Ireland holds the archive of Cork Street Fever Hospital.