University of Manitoba History: University of Manitoba Building Histories

Agricultural Research Building
This three-story block links together two barns reconstructed in 1948.  The building opened in 1958 with additions to the rear completed in 1962.

Agriculture Building
The new Agriculture Building opened in November 1996 and features lecture theatres and laboratories.

Alumni House 
Originally known as the Home Management House, it was built in 1939 as a training center to allow students an opportunity to deal with a child’s daily routine.  Ten women would move into the house for a month to practice home management and childcare on their current Welfare Association child.

Animal Science
This building was opened in 1962.  The second floor houses the Department of Entomology.

Bison Building
Formerly the Students Union Building, it housed the Bison East Gym, the print shop, a student computing centre, the School of Nursing and the Department of Landscape Architecture and City Planning.  The two gyms were converted from a former aircraft hanger, built by the Air Training Command for the Commonwealth Training Program.  This portion was moved to campus in 1948.  The first addition was made in 1952 and a large cafeteria and lounge were added in 1960.  This building was torn down in 1998.

Brodie Centre
This welcome addition to the Health Sciences Centre houses the Medical Library, bookstore and gymnasium.  The building was dedicated on June 14, 1996 in honor of Earle and Marion Brodie.  Earle Brodie (U. of M., M.D. 1936) established the Maft Corporation and the Price Company, operator of the Price Club, the original cash and carry membership warehouse.  He and his wife made a substantial gift to the university.

Chown Building
The Chown building was completed between 1962-1964 for research graduate education and administration.  The structure houses the Departments of Pharmacology and Therapeutics and the animal shelters as well as several deans’ offices.  The building is named after Henry Havelock Chown, the third Dean of the Manitoba Medical School from 1900-1917.

Duff Roblin Building
This structure was completed in 1970 and houses the Department of Psychology and the Zoology laboratories.  The building is named after former Premier Duff Roblin, a good friend to the University while in office and in his subsequent retirement.  He is responsible for the Roblin Commission Report on the State of Universities in Manitoba.

Elizabeth Dafoe Library
The main campus library was built in 1952 and  was named after Elizabeth Dafoe, the University’s chief librarian from 1937 to 1960.  The Sifton wing was added in 1978 as one of the University’s Centennial Projects.

Ellis Building
The original building was completed in 1966.  By 1969 a second floor had been added to the structure with a new two-story wing to house the Department of Soil Science and Food Science.  Joseph H. Ellis was both a student at the Agricultural College and long-time professor in the Faculty of Soil Science.  The Fisheries Research Board of Canada leases a portion of the complex.

Engineering and Information Technology Complex
The original section of this building, the southeast section facing the green, was completed in 1912-1913.  The first addition to the northeast corner came in 1949.  In 1954 the first floor of the center wing and the second and third floors of the old south wing were added.  In 1962 the second and third floors of the center wing were constructed, also in red brick.  The 1967 addition (the New Engineering Building), however, is contemporary in design and related to the 1949 addition with its polished limestone veneer and large plate-glass windows.  The Senate Chamber is in this wing.  The 1949 addition was torn down and a new building took its place as part of the newly renovated Engineering and Information Technlogy Complex, which opened in 2005.  The Fetherstonhaugh High Voltage Laboratory was completed in 1957.

Fitzgerald Building
The School of Art moved into its new and  permanent home on the Fort Garry Campus in the fall of 1965.  The building is named in honor of L. Lemoine Fitzgerald, a member of the Group of Seven and one-time Principal of the Winnipeg School of Art.  The School was founded in 1913 and operated independently of the University until 1950 when a degree course in Fine Arts was initiated.

Fletcher Argue Building
This six-story building opened in the fall of 1967.  The building is named after Robert Fletcher Argue, an English professor from 1923 and the Dean of Junior Men at the University’s Broadway site from 1940-1948.

Frank Kennedy Centre
The swimming pool of this athletic complex opened in 1965.  The larger structure that houses the gymnasiums and the Continuing Education Division was opened in 1972.  The building is named after the late Frank Kennedy, the first director of the School of Physical Education at its inception in 1964.

Freshwater Institute
This building was officially opened in 1972.  This is where the federal Fisheries and Marine Service conducts supporting research and performs fisheries product inspection for Canada’s four inland provinces and the North West Territories.

Investors Group Centre
The new athletic centre, sponsored by Investors Group for the Pan Am Games, opened in 1998.

Isbister Building
This building was completed in 1961 to house the Departments of Commerce and Psychology.  It now houses Geography, Near Eastern and Judaic Studies and Sociology.  The Isbister Trust Fund has played an important part in student aid at the University.

Machray Hall
This building houses the Dean’s Office, Faculty of Science, the Science Library, and the Departments of Statistics, Mathematics, Computer Science and Applied Mathematics.  The facility opened in 1972 and is named in honor of Robert Machray, the Archbishop of Rupertsland and first Chancellor of the University of Manitoba.

Mary Speechly Hall/Pembina Hall
Mary Speechly Hall ( former Women’s Residence) opened in September 1964.  Pembina Hall houses the residence students’ cafeteria and the Faculty Club.  Mary Speechly was the first woman appointed to the Board of Governors.

Max Bell Center
This athletic complex was opened in 1982 complete with hockey rink and the finest indoor track in the province.  George Maxwell Bell was a newspaper baron and at one time owner of the Winnipeg Free Press.  The Max Bell Centre is a beneficiary of the Max Bell Foundation.

Plant Science Building
Completed in 1960, this building was originally named the Crop Research Building.

Robson Hall
This building opened in September 1969 as the permanent home of the Faculty of Law.  The building is named after former Chief Justice of Manitoba Hugh Amos Robson.

John A. Russell Building
Named after the School of Architecture’s first dean, this building was completed in 1959.  Russell was on faculty at the University from 1928 to 1966.

Science Lecture Block
Completed in the fall of 1960, the buildings are the Allen for Physics, the Parker for Chemistry and the Armes for lecture rooms.  The Allen Building houses the Cyclotron Research Center.

St. Andrew’s College
Built in 1963, St. Andrew’s College was the first Ukrainian-language college to be opened by the Greek Orthodox Church in North America.  The College library contains one of the largest collections of Orthodox manuscripts and books in the world.

St. John’s College and Chapel
This Anglican College was one of the three affiliate Colleges that founded the University of Manitoba in 1877.  In 1958 it left Broadway Avenue and moved to the Fort Garry Campus.

St. Paul’s College
Founded in 1926, St. Paul’s College first became affiliated with the University of Manitoba in 1931.  The College moved to the Fort Garry Campus in 1958.

University Centre
This complex opened in the fall of 1969.

University College
University College opened in the fall of 1964.  At the center of the complex is the dominating seven-story dormitory.  The second floor houses the Planetarium named after Robert James Lockhart who was instrumental in having the structure built and was the first director.  Beside the Provost Office on the main floor is the “Victorian Room” with its unique mid-nineteenth-century English Victorian furniture donated by Dr. Joseph Doupe, the former Head of the Department of Physiology.

Wallace Building
This building opened in 1986 to house the Department of Geological Sciences.  Robert Charles Wallace was the first professor of Geology and Mineralogy at the University of Manitoba, joining the faculty in 1910.