McGill Library
McLennan Library Building3459 rue McTavish
Montreal, Quebec
H3A 0C9
New Birks Building
File
85 drawings : 1 ink on linen, 44 pencil on paper, 2 watercolour on card, 38 blueprints
18 photographs
File consists of architectural drawings for office building and factory (basement, 10 floors; stone and terracotta; steel frame), including:
2 presentation drawings: interior and exterior perspectives
5 development drawings: floor plans, cornice
7 working drawings: floor plan, roof plan, elevations, section
57 detail drawings: interior and exterior elevations, wall sections, laboratories, lobby, corridor plans, lunettes, doors (including woodwork, ironwork and bronzework), stairs, windows, conveyor, plasterwork (including ornament), stonework, pier, walls, trims, finishes, terracotta, lighting plan, sills, fittings, ironwork (including lunettes, stairs, balusters)
8 shop drawings: elevator hall, window schedule, fire escape, corridor elevations, machine and hatchway location
6 consultant drawings: interior elevations, pipe tunnel, vents, entrance hall
18 photographs: 1 perspective; 6 finished exteriors; 2 finished interiors; 2 details; 7 others
The Union Avenue and Cathcart Street facades are of stone, from the sidewalk to the wide spreading cornice at the roof, ten stories above; the base being in Stanstead Granite, and the balance in Grey Canyon Sand Stone. The entrance is flanked by monoliths of “Tenos” marble, supporting a moulded entablature of carved cornucopias. These form the bull’s eye, which lights the lofty entrance hall. The entrance hall above all other features of the building was given particular care by the architects. In the wide plaster wall surfaces, are set subject medallions, modeled by the sculptor, Mr. Hebert. The floor is of marble, as is the high wainscot and trim. The hall runs through two stories, and a gallery, which is seen immediately above the elevator doors, connects the second floor corridors. (Henry Birks and Sons, The New Birks Building).