File 385 - War Memorial Window for D.U. [Delta Upsilon] Fraternity

Percy Nobbs designed the War Memorial Window for Delta Upsilon Fraternity, which was located at 26 (now 3434) McTavish Street in Montreal. The window was commissioned in 1930 by Mrs. A.K. Hugessen in memory of her brothers Herrick and Kenneth Duggan and their fraternity members killed in World War I. In 1972 the fraternity house was sold to McGill and the window presented to the University where it was installed in the addition to the Redpath Library. The window was rededicated in 1997 to celebrate the Centennial of the Chartering of the McGill chapter of Delta Upsilon on November 11, 1898. Although the three panels of the window are separate entities, it is clear that thematically and formally they are meant to be seen together. The centre panel depicts St. George and the Dragon, above which the Canadian Royal Insignia and the McGill University coat of arms are displayed. As the iconographical Christian hero, St. George triumphs through strength and discipline over the forces of evil represented by the dragon which symbolizes the bestial aspects of human nature-- an apt metaphor for war. An inscription commemorates the 23 members of Delta Upsilon who fell in World War I. The right panel contains three medallions representing, from top to bottom, the arms of the McGill military training program unit, the Royal Canadian Artillery and the Canadian Medical Corps. Three medallions in the left panel encompass the arms of the Royal Air Force, the Royal Canadian Engineers Corps, and the Canadian Machine Gun Corps. Uniting the three panels is a background pattern of the fraternity insignia. A photograph taken of the window prior to 1972 reveals that when the window was installed at McGill, the left and right panels were reversed.

26 McTavish St., Montreal, QC, Canada