McGill Library
McLennan Library Building3459 rue McTavish
Montreal, Quebec
H3A 0C9
Royal Victoria College Extension
File
241 drawings : 15 ink on linen, 3 ink on paper, 165 pencil on paper, 3 watercolour on card, 54 blueprints, 1 photostat
21 photographs
cm of textual records
File consists of architectural drawings for university dormitory (addition: basement, 4 floors, attic, 65 bedrooms; brick; concrete frame), as well as file folder of correspondence and photographs (1 perspective, 6 finished exteriors, 14 finished interiors). Drawings include:
2 survey drawings: property plan
6 sketch drawings: water culvert, site plan, floor plans, section
3 presentation drawings: exterior perspective, elevation to Sherbrooke St., elevation to University St.
24 development drawings: structural grid, foundation plan, floor plans, roof plan, elevations, bay, structure, entrance, stairs, bedroom layout
17 working drawings: site plan, floor plans, roof plan, elevations, sections, structural plans, schedule
137 detail drawings: floor plan, elevations, sections, wing, bay, wall sections, structure, stairs, room interiors and plans, lavatories, fireplaces, eaves, elevator tower, windows, fleche, staircases, partitions, dormers, doors, lighting, fittings, plinth course, balustrade, cornice, gable, finials, ornaments, parapet, sashes, reflected ceiling plans, tilework, radiator, mantel, dado, trims, leaded glass, lambrekin, entrances, coping, steps, fence, planting, woodwork (incl. curtain boxes, newel), plasterwork (including arches, wreaths, panel, cornice), ironwork (including brackets, compass points, railing), stonework (including gables, windows, string course, lintel, bay, panel, chimney, entrance, porch, ornament)
31 shop drawings: ladder, partitions, doors, linen chute, balusters, cornices, stairs, entrances, elevator shaft, ornament, fittings, hangers, structural plan
17 consultant drawings: electrical plans, structural plans, schedule, lighting, sashes
4 record drawings: floor plans, elevations
Additional presentation perspective is at National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa.
The original Royal Victoria College, a symmetrical Scottish Baronial edifice, was designed by the American Bruce Price’s firm, and most likely by Frederick Bulloch Marvin who headed the Montreal office. Nobbs was commissioned to craft a principally residential addition to the college to provide for growing enrolment. Drawing on his experience with the Pathological Institute at the Royal Victoria Hospital, the extension is courteous to its neighbour, but developed along its own lines, imbuing the college with a more modest scale and character than its parent. Nobbs’ extension is broken down into distinct components visually, with a series of roofs. This composition is tied together with a ‘pepperpot’ tower, the same device used by Nobbs when faced with the same situation at the Pathological Institute. The ornamentation on the building, though plentiful, is greatly reduced compared to on the original college. One of these ornaments, a forget-me-not to the warden of the college, has been subsequently defaced.