It was directly supported by the Brethren of the Masonic Order and was in existence from 1867 until 1981.

[3][4][5] Following the earlier establishment of the Masonic Female Orphan School of Ireland, the establishment of a boys school was decided upon at a meeting in Freemason's Hall on Molesworth Street on 16 April 1867.

The school was established in 1867 and originally operated from Adelaide Hall in Sandymount which it leased from 1873 but moved because of overcrowding to a new site at Richview Lodge in Clonskeagh in 1885.

After some alterations and extensions of Richview Lodge in the 1880s by the architect Sir Thomas Drew, the school finally commenced for the first time from the new campus at Richview, Clonskeagh on 16 January 1888.

[9][10][11] In 1980, UCD bought Richview Lodge and its estate of 17.4 acres for £2.1million and the school closed soon after.