The Quadrangle first opened its doors to 68 students on 30th October 1849 and the University, then known as Queen's College was born. The University was one of three Queen's Colleges, the others located in Cork and Belfast.
The Quadrangle building, built in local limestone in a Tudor Gothic architectural style, is modelled on Christ Church at the University of Oxford. The 'Quad' still stands proudly at the heart of the University today as a testament to its past. It is now used primarily for administrative purposes and houses the offices of the President and the Vice-Presidents.
In the first academic year, 1849 -1850, the University began with three faculties, Arts, Medicine and Law but there were also schools of Agriculture and Engineering. Female students later joined the student body and in 1906 Alice Perry graduated from the college, believed to be the first female engineering graduate in the world to receive a first class honours degree in civil engineering
