Montreal General Hospital Pathological Building(1909-10)
René-Lévesque Boulevard [Dorchester Street], Montreal, QC, Canada
Health, Hospital [basement, 5 floors]; brick and stone; composite

Client: Montreal General Hospital
Architect: E. & W.S. Maxwell

Description: The Montreal General Hospital was founded in 1817 by lady volunteers as the first English-speaking hospital in Montreal. In 1819, the hospital moved to a building located on Dorchester Street, to which were added the Richardson Wing in 1832 and the Reid Wing in 1848, both by the architect Thomas Phillips. The hospital went through many transformations over the years and in 1956 moved to the present building at Côte-des-Neiges Road and Cedar Avenue. In 1909, the hospital engaged the Maxwell brothers to design the Pathological Building. The building was not completed until 1911 due to a plumbers strike. The elevations showed a composition that was markedly different from the Romanesque, Italian Renaissance and Beaux-Arts building styles practised by Edward in the 1890s. The architects divided the elevation into a base finished in stone and a shaft marked with a beltcourse. This middle section is composed of two-storey high windows, which are topped with arches and keystone details. The main entrance door is marked with a broken pediment and the exterior corners articulated with quoins. These different ornaments served to soften the building’s spare geometry. The layout of the different levels show a careful study of the programmatic functions for the building. For convenience the architects placed the staircase at the centre of the plan as a main core for the circulation. The basement contains the storage rooms, microscopic photography, and the photography room. The main floor accommodates a chapel, waiting room, autopsy room, shrouding room, and the teaching laboratory. The director’s office and research laboratories are located on the upper levels. The architects left the second floor unfinished to provide for future expansions. As shown in the building’s plans, Edward and William’s office was involved in the design of the entire technical installations equipment and furnishing details, including the design of electrical fixtures.

Holdings: Hospital (basement, 5 floors); brick and stone; composite
61 Drawings: 43 ink on linen; 7 ink on paper; 10 pencil on paper; 1 blueprint
16 Development drawings: lot plan, floor plans, [elevation], section, ventilation, fittings
9 Working drawings: foundations, floor plans, roof plan, elevations, structure
36 Detail drawings: floor plans, elevations, chapel, shrouding room, entries, structure, mechanical, stairs, skylight, doors, fittings, fixtures, balcony, deck house