The History of McGill University's Buildings

Description

The Pathology Institute came into being in 1923 when the Royal Victoria Hospital petitioned the J.D. Rockefeller Foundation for building funds. The building, on the corner of Pine Avenue and University Street, was designed by Percy Erskine Nobbs, a Professor of Design at the School of Architecture, and his partner George Taylor Hyde. This Montreal limestone structure continues the Hospital's Scottish Medieval themes, but in a less severe and more functional manner. Nobbs, who carefully considered the site of the building, designed the section on Pine Avenue so that it would not overwhelm the houses just east of it, yet would be easily recognisable as part of the Pathology Institute. On the other hand, the wing on University Street, right across from the imposing Royal Victoria Hospital, is on a grander scale to show the connection with that institution; it contains the main labs and the autopsy lecture theatre. Many windows, including skylights, were included in the layout to provide plenty of light in the labs.

By the 1960s, the Pathological Institute had outgrown its original home. At this time, the firm of Ross, Fish, and Duschenes was commissioned to construct a much larger wing to the northeast of the older structure. This towering, new, concrete section, named the Lyman Duff Building, provides modern labs and facilities, but does not continue Nobbs' themes.