Hospital Name: Montreal General Hospital
Address: 1650 ave. Cedar (1955 - present), Montréal, Québec, H4V 2S7; Tel: (514) 937-6011;Fax: (514) 483-4596
MUC Location: Montréal, Ville-Marie
Religious Affiliation: secular
Architect: McDougall, Smith and Flemming
Architectural Firm: McDougall, Smith & Flemming
Ground-breaking Date: Sod turned: 1950
First foundation stone laid: May, 1953
Completion Date: May, 1955
Incorporation Date: founded, 1821
incorporated, 1823
Renovations:
1. addition of three floors to Pine Avenue pavilion (60-70 beds), addition of new laboratories, clinical and professional services: 1966
2. five storey building on southwest part of site added, neurosurgery-orthopaedic operating theatre (8th floor Cedar Avenue pavilion), expansion of medical library: 1970
Organizing Institution: The Montreal General Hospital
McGill University Health Center
Capacity:
Original patient room type distribution: private rooms (127), semiprivate and public (528), obstetrics (43), operating recovery (11), O. P. D. (7)
1955: 767 beds
1966: 910 beds
Architectural Notes: The original design of the building was made difficult by the slope of the site which caused problems in providing obvious functional pathways between groups within different pavilions. The buildings' facades are very sombre holding to a strict non-decorative, "function above form", regime. Main entrances and banks of elevators are made visible by the roof and façade structures on both of the pavilions facing onto Cedar and Pine Avenues. The original doorway to the original Montreal General is now the entrance to the Medical Library of the existing Montreal General Hospital.
Total site area- 385 000 sq. ft.
Total elevation change between Pine Avenue and Cedar Avenue- 120 ft.
Floors: Cedar Avenue pavilion: 21 floors
Pine Avenue pavilion: 8 floors
Nurses building: 10 floors
Building Footprint: T-shape plan (H-shape at some levels)
the hospital is orgainzed in several pavilions centered around the main T-shape building
Contractor: McDougall & Friedman: engineers
Anglin-Norcross Quebec limited: general contractors
Construction Notes: The hospital has a pneumatic tube system for distributing materials and specimens between the hospitals various groups. 75 % of the cost of the buildings was raised through public donations. The hospital's buildings are all heated by hot water with forced circulation.
General Notes: The Montreal General was originally titled the "House of Recovery." The hospital was established in a small four room house, in the St. Joseph suburbs, to accomodate immigrant patients entering Montreal following the war of 1812 (ending 1815). On May 1st, 1819, the "House of Recovery" was moved to a building on Craig Street, in the St. Lawrence suburbs, which could host 24 patients in three wards. It was this building which first bore the title, "Montreal General Hospital."~(Haegerty 1928, p182) When the General Hospital's first charter was drafted, a member of the local legislature objected to having teaching in the hospital and challenged one of the hospitals staff, Dr. Caldwell, to a duel. Both men were injured but the charter was still signed.~(RAIC 1955, p311) The affiliation with McGill University began in 1829 when, on penalty of losing James McGill's estate bequeathed for the establishment of a College, the Montreal Medical Institution agreed to form the Medical Faculty of McGill University (thus came the founding of McGill University). The Montreal Medical Institution, Canada's first medical school, was a school begun by the General Hospital's founding fathers in 1821.~(RAIC 1955, p311)
Bibliography: Lewis, D. Sclater.Royal Victoria Hospital 1887-1947. Montreal: McGill University Press, 1969
"The Montreal General Hospital." Royal Architectural Institute of Canada Journal, 32 (September 1955): 311-324.
MacDermot, H. E..The Montreal General Hospital: The Years of Change (1945-1970). Montreal: The Montreal General Hospital, 1971.
MacDermot, H. E..A History of The Montreal General Hospital. Montreal: The Montreal General Hospital, 1950.
Bensley, Edward H., R. Roy Forsey and Jean C. Grout (eds.).The Montreal General Hospital: Since 1821. Montreal: The Montreal General Hospital, 1971.
Footnotes: For information on the original Montreal General Hospital building, look under CHSLD Centre-Ville.
Affiliated Buildings:
CHSLD Centre-Ville de Montréal