THE INTERNS’ RESIDENCE

During the late 1920's the problem of housing the ever increasing number of interns at the Royal Victoria Hospital had reached the point of necessitating a new structure on the hospital grounds. The empty ground between the Administration Building and the Ross and Women's Pavilion was the most likely site for such an addition. Perhaps as a cost saving measure, the new Interns' Residence was constructed atop the foundations of the original Laundry Building, although not much about this decision is known.

Architects Ross & MacDonald were chosen to design the new building, their first project for the Royal Victoria Hospital. Similar in footprint to the Laundry Building, the Interns' Residence was a four storey fireproof structure with a simple gable roof. True to the Scottish Baronial style of the original buildings, it features numerous small gable and rough stone infill. It was also symmetrical about its long axis, both in terms of its facade and planning on most levels. The residence retained the most distinctive feature of the Laundry Building, its circular entry hallway which included two doric columns.

Accomodations for the interns were quite luxurious, with the inclusion of a billiard room, parlour, and 'snack room'. The fine detail of the furnishings can be seen in a series of images taken by photographer S.J. Hayward of Montreal which were compiled in an album in the early 1930's, possibly to commemorate the opening of the building. In the six following decades, the Interns' Residence housed many different uses and eventually fell into a state of disrepair. It was ultimately demolished in the early 1990's in order to make way for the new Centennial Pavilion.