About the Place:
The Royal Victoria College, McGill's college for women, was named in honour of Queen Victoria, one of the most prominent female figures of her time. Its first, and central, wing was built by the American architect Bruce Price in 1899 at the request of Lord Strathcona, formerly Donald Smith, one of the most charitable of McGill's donors. Lord Strathcona gave the University £50,000 for the new project, and also purchased the Tiffin and Learmont properties on the northeast corner of Sherbrooke and University Streets. This provided funds and an ideal site for the new edifice, but in the process destroyed the old, nineteenth-century mansions previously located there. At the opening of the building, in 1899, a statue of the Queen, executed by Princess Louise, was presented to the College and today still sits enthroned on the steps of Strathcona's building.
The original, central edifice, named the Hurlbatt Wing after the College's first warden, is of the British chateau style. Its five storeys crowned by many gables and dormers still create a fine facade on Sherbrooke Street and are supported by a steel frame covered by a layer of the grey, Montreal limestone, featured by many campus buildings. The first roof of steel and terra cotta was replaced by the present copper sheets in 1932. The building is decorated by many carvings that refer both to wisdom and to its namesake, the Queen. The interior contained eight classrooms, an assembly hall that could seat 700 students, a dining hall, and various reading and drawing rooms. It also provided housing for the warden, tutors, and fifty-two female students who comprised the original College. Each resident was given a spacious bedroom with access to a lounge shared by three people at most. Every detail of the building was designed with great care, right down to the linens and cutlery, to provide comfort to its inhabitants who were named Donaldas after the first name of Lord Strathcona.
In the 1930s, the College had grown so large that it became necessary to greatly increase the number of rooms. Thus, in 1931, the four-storey Vaughan Wing was erected by Percy Nobbs, Professor of Design at the School of Architecture and a noted architect of many campus buildings, Macdonald Engineering among them. Nobbs' extension, located just west of the Hurlbatt Wing, right at the northeast corner of Sherbrooke and University, added living quarters for sixty-two more students, four tutors, and a second warden. The reinforced concrete frame, again covered in Montreal limestone, was designed to allow slightly smaller, more economical rooms, but still possessed a pleasing facade on both Sherbrooke and University Streets. Named after a warden of the College, as were all the wings of the ever-expanding complex, the Vaughan Wing is still part of RVC; its rooms, spacious by today's standards, house a new generation of female students.
Royal Victoria College was extended still further between 1948 and 1949 by the addition of the Reynolds Wing to the east side of the Hurlbatt Wing. Built by the firm of Barott, Marshal, Montgomery, and Merrett, this new steel-framed structure, faced with brick, stretches north up what is now Aylmer Street. The Garfield-Weston pool, running further east along Sherbrooke, was also added at this time. This new section of the complex of RVC provided 163 new rooms to satisfy the ever-growing needs of the women's residence.
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About the Person:
Queen Victoria
Victoria, queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland and Empress of India (born 24 May 1819 at Kensington Palace, London; died 22 January 1901 at Osborne House, Isle of Wight).
Queen Victoria succeeded to the throne at age 18, following the death of her uncle, William IV, in 1837. She was an ardent imperialist and took an intense interest in her colonial subjects. Queen Victoria favoured Confederation and acted as a unifying influence for Canada’s provinces. While the Queen never visited Canada, five of her nine children spent time in Canada, where her name has been given to numerous public buildings, streets, communities and physical features.
Parents
The future Queen Victoria was the only child of Prince Edward, Duke of Kent and Strathearn (1767–1820), the fourth son of King George III, and Princess Victoire of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld (1786–1861). Edward was the first member of the royal family to reside in Canada for a sustained period of time. He spent the 1790s in Québec City and Halifax, where he helped improve British North American defences and became commander-in-chief of the British North American forces. Prince Edward Island is named for him. After the death of his niece, Princess Charlotte, in 1817, Edward married at the age of 50. His marriage was necessary in order to continue the line of royal heirs after Charlotte's passing. Victoire was 20 years younger than Edward and the widow of Prince Charles of Leiningen. She had two children, Charles and Feodora, from her first marriage.
Early Life
On 24 June 1819, Victoria was christened Alexandrina Victoria in honour of her godfather, Czar Alexander I of Russia, and her mother. Her father died of pneumonia before her first birthday, and she grew up at Kensington Palace in London under the guardianship of her mother. Victoire disapproved of Edward’s brothers, who were derided for their gambling and mistresses; and the young Victoria saw little of the royal family. She was, for example, not permitted to attend the coronation of her uncle and predecessor, William IV, in 1830. Victoria was educated at home and grew up to be stubborn and strong willed.
Accession to the Throne
Victoria became queen upon the death of William IV on 20 June 1837. There was an outpouring of popular enthusiasm about the 18-year-old monarch, whose respectability contrasted with her uncles George IV and William IV. After attending her coronation at Westminster Abbey on 28 June 1838, diarist Sir Charles Greville wrote, “It is, in fact, the remarkable union of naïveté, kindness, nature, good-nature, with propriety and dignity, which makes her so admirable and so endearing to those about her.” After the seclusion of her childhood, Victoria enjoyed her new position and was an enthusiastic participant in court balls and other entertainments.
Victoria came to the throne just months before the Rebellions of 1837–38 were mounted in Upper and Lower Canada. On 22 December 1837, the Queen wrote in her journal, "The news are, I grieve to say, very bad from Canada; that is to say rumours and reports by the Papers, though we have no Official Reports. But [Prime Minister] Lord Melbourne hopes it may not be so bad as it is rumoured. There certainly is open Rebellion." In honour of her coronation, the Queen granted amnesties to the rebels in Upper and Lower Canada (see Amnesty Act).
Marriage
On 15 October 1839, Queen Victoria proposed to her cousin, Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha. They were married at St. James’s Palace on 10 February 1840. Victoria wore a white satin and lace dress, starting the fashion for white wedding dresses that continues to the present. Victoria was deeply in love with her husband, writing in her journal at the time of her wedding: “His beauty, his sweetness & gentleness — really how can I ever be thankful enough to have such a Husband!”
During the first years of her marriage, Victoria prevented Albert from becoming involved in her duties as sovereign, a stance that Albert resented. As their marriage progressed, Victoria became increasingly dependent on Albert, and he came to exert political and cultural influence. He advised Victoria on state documents, drafted her correspondence and reformed royal finances. Albert chaired the Great Exhibition, which showcased British and international trade at London’s Crystal Palace in 1851 and inspired similar displays around the world. He received the title of prince consort in 1857, though Sir Charles Greville remarked, "He is King to all intents and purposes."
Children
Queen Victoria had nine children: Victoria (1840–1901), Albert Edward, the future Edward VII (1841–1910), Alice (1843–1878), Alfred (1844–1900), Helena (1846–1923), Louise (1848–1939), Arthur (1850–1942), Leopold (1853–1884) and Beatrice (1857–1944). Prince Albert was present in the delivery room for the births with government ministers and clergymen assembled in the adjoining room. Albert was likely the first royal father to be present for the births of his children. Current royal christening traditions, such as the use of the lily font and Honiton lace robe, date from the christenings of Victoria’s children.
Victoria popularized childbirth anaesthesia, then a controversial medical intervention, when she requested chloroform for the births of Leopold and Beatrice. She had little interest in young children — writing that “an ugly baby is a very nasty object — and the prettiest is frightful when undressed” — and Albert assumed a more active role in the children’s education and upbringing. Victoria became closer to her children as they aged. The royal family’s public image conformed to 19th-century ideals of domesticity in the English-speaking world. Images of Victoria, Albert and their children celebrating Christmas and taking family vacations influenced broader parenting trends.
All four of Victoria’s sons spent time in Canada. Edward VII, the future king, undertook a highly successful tour of British North America and the United States in 1860 that set precedents for future royal tours, including engagement with Canadians from a variety of communities and backgrounds, and showcasing local culture. Alfred spent five weeks in the Maritimes in 1861; and Arthur spent a year with the Rifle Brigade based in Montréal in 1869–70. As Duke of Connaught, Arthur would return to Canada as Governor General from 1911 to 1916. Victoria’s daughter, Louise, was vice-regal consort from 1878 to 1883, when her husband, the Marquess of Lorne, became the fourth Governor General since Confederation. Leopold visited Louise in Ottawa and they visited Niagara Falls together. Louise and Lorne founded the National Gallery of Canada (1880), the Royal Canadian Academy of Arts (1880) and the Royal Society of Canada (1882) during their time in Canada.
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