Institut Allan Memorial
| Allan Memorial Institute | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Established | 1940 |
| Construction Began | 1861 |
| Construction Ended | 1864 |
| Opened | 1940 |
| Closed | 2015 |
| Current Status | Closed |
| Building Style | Single Building |
| Architect(s) | John William Hopkins |
| Location | Montreal, QC |
| Architecture Style | Neo-Renaissance |
| Alternate Names | Institut Allan Memorial
|
History[edit]
Ravenscrag, sited up the hill on McTavish Street, was once the home of Scottish born cargo tycoon, Sir Hugh Allan. It was built in 1861 by Victor Roy and John Hopkins and described by some as a "pile of roughly hewn granite boldly rising from the side of Mount Royal." Sir Hugh Allan purchased 14 acres from the decaying McTavish estate and built a luxurious home that commanded an imposing view of the entire city. This elegant and aristocratic mansion resembled a Scottish castle on the Isle of Wright and bears Scottish and regal architectural associations like the family crest and thistles which are inscribed on its exterior.
The picturesque massing of Ravenscrag resulted in a complex that permitted wings and additions with the greatest possible ease. Sir Hugh's home had an asymmetric facade dominated by a large, a solid tower and a wrought iron gate that encircled his property further emphasizing his influence and power in the city of Montréal. The thirty-four room interior featured a different architectural style - an Italian dining room, a French ballroom and a Victorian oak-paneled library with ornate furniture. The building has maintained its residential character and its villa-style expressed an attempt to integrate city and country life. The latter was further enforced by a landscape designed by Frederick Todd which featured a meandering pathway that echoed the sequencing of Olmstead's path to the summit of Mount Royal.
Following the death Sir Hugh Allan's son (Sir Montagu Allan) in 1940, Lady Allan donated Ravenscrag to the Royal Victoria Hospital. It was renamed the Allan Memorial Institute in 1943. To serve the present needs as a psychiatric hospital and research institute, the interior of the building was altered and many additions have been made to the exterior by architects Harold Lawson and Harold Little. As architectural historian Don Gillmor notes, and as evidenced by drawings from the Canadian Centre for Architecture, "rooms were divided, ceilings lowered, linoleum covered the hardwood floor, the conservatory removed and terraces, porches and verandahs were enclosed." According to the Heritage Value Assessment (2006), the radical alteration of Ravenscrag to the Allan Memorial Institute was "a total disaster" from a heritage conservation point of view.
The original floor plans of Ravenscrag were rigorously divided on the east and the west of the building. Publicly inaccessible spaces were located on the west, upper and back floors, while semi-private doctor's offices occupied the rear and the west wing where the Ravenscrag kitchen once stood. The east side featured more publicly accessible spaces - day clinics, offices for social workers, waiting rooms and a staff kitchen. The Allan Memorial Institute also remains a powerful reminder of a dark chapter in the hospital's history where the infamous CIA Project MKUltra, a series of secret mind-control experiments, took place in the most private top floors of the science labs and interrogation cells. Two additional wings, the Allan Memorial Wing, a four storey reinforced concrete building with 54 beds was added in 1953 and the Training and Research building of McGill University was added in 1963. Despite this fracturing of the building, many reports describe the Allan Memorial Institution as congenial, almost hotel-like providing a setting that was both, friendly and domestic. Several scholars also note that the Allan Memorial Institute was unlike older, more formal hospital architecture due to its residential character and architecture. One scholar argues that the emphasis on domesticity, modernity and community contributed to an advancement in psychiatric care that resulted in a more socially integrated approach to medicine and community care.
With the imminent move of the Royal Victoria Hospital in 2015, there is yet another opportunity to re-transform the Allan Memorial Institute.
Links[edit]
The Adaptive Reuse of Square Mile Mansions
Images of Allan Memorial Insitute[edit]
Main Image Gallery: Allan Memorial Insitute
