The History of McGill University's Buildings

Description

Ardvarna was built in 1897 for Andrew Allan, a partner in the Allan Line Steamship Company, by the famous Montreal architects Edward and William Maxwell. In 1906, Sir Henry Vincent Meredith, president of the Bank of Montreal, married Isabella Brenda Allan, the daughter of Andrew Allan and the niece of Hugh Allan, who lived at Ravenscrag. At this time, Ardvarna, a turreted, brick mansion, bordering on Richardsonian Romanesque, was given to the newly-weds by Andrew Allan. Sir Vincent died in 1929, but Lady Meredith continued to occupy the house, at the corner of Peel Street and Pine Avenue, until 1941 at which point she gave it to the Royal Victoria Hospital to use as a nurses' residence. McGill acquired the use of Ardvarna in 1975, but shared it with the Hospital for many years. In 1990, McGill's Centre for Medicine, Ethics, and Law and the McGill Pulmonary Research Lab were both housed in Ardvarna, now called the Lady Meredith House. On January 7, 1990, the edifice was broken into and the old mansion, one of the few left with its interior details intact, was set on fire. Fortunately, the fire department and McGill responded quickly and there was minimal structural damage. McGill decided to renovate Ardvarna to its original elegance and hired Julia Gersovitz, a McGill graduate and professor, and her firm, Gersovitz, Becker, and Moss for the project.