Memorial Hall was erected in recognition of the important contribution made by members of the McGill community in the service of their country. Dedicated on October 6, 1946, the Memorial Hall and adjoining Memorial Pool were the most substantial gestures of remembrance on the McGill University campus. The project was approved by the Board of Governors on October 23, 1944. Four years after the end of the Second World War, the Sir Arthur Currie Memorial Gymnasium-Armoury building was expanded to include Memorial Hall. With its marble and terrazzo finishes, bronze doors, stained glass windows, and commemorative artwork and plaques, the Hall became the central point of the McGill community’s collective memory of the World Wars.
By the time of the official opening of the new additions by the Governor General of Canada on November 26, 1950 a number of memorial plaques and battalion flags were moved from other locations into the new Memorial Hall and a Roll of Honour containing the names of both Great War and World War II McGill fatalities in a single book. The illuminated Book of Remembrance records the names of the nearly 700 students, staff and faculty who lost their lives in World War I and World War II. Each name is handwritten in calligraphy and the parchment pages are illuminated with vibrant reds, blues or greens, as well as silver and gold. The Book is bound in red leather with the McGill University emblem emblazoned with silver and gold on the cover. The Book was first unveiled during the official opening of Memorial Hall, now part of the Currie Gymnasium Complex, on November 26, 1950. In February 2014, the Book of Remembrance was removed from its original casing in Memorial Hall to be restored and digitized. As a result of this project, a replica of the Book was made and will be housed in a special display case in the pedway connecting the McLennan and Redpath Library Buildings. A digitized version will be launched on the McGill Remembers website, and the original will be made accessible for viewing in the Rare Books and Special Collections, and Archives Reading Room on the fourth floor of the McLennan Library Building.
In addition the painting of the Quebec City conference, the Unknown Soldier portrait and other elements were added.
The interior of the Hall was clad in black marble from Normandy and travertine from the Monte Cassino quarry in Italy. Major campaigns of both wars were inscribed on the wall nearest the Honour Roll, and the Hall was lit with indirect lighting to allow emphasis of the stained glass windows. A war memorial window (1950) by Charles William Kelsey in the McGill University War Memorial Hall depicts St. Michael and the dragon, c.1950. The opening was attended by 1,200 family relatives and friends of the people listed in the Roll.
From that point on, the Memorial Hall became the focal point of remembrance activities. Similarly, a memorial archway in the Raymond Building at Macdonald Campus was constructed, and a funds left over from the project were designated for the maintenance of the Hall and pool as well as for an annual lecture at Macdonald.
While ceremonies continued to be held at Memorial Hall for many years, a number of factors led to its eclipse. Among those was the aging of the veterans who organized the annual ceremony, the reduction of the size of the site due to the widening of Pine Avenue, the disbandment of the COTC in 1968, and the assignment of the balance of the Memorial Fund to the library for the purchase of books. As a result, the last known McGill remembrance event was held at the Hall in the mid 1980s, and the concept of a Remembrance Day function at McGill was lost until resumed by McGill students in 1994.
Since the mid-1980s Memorial Hall had become, in effect, an orphaned structure. Without a specific active vocation, shorn of its funding for upkeep and encroached upon by city streets it now sits unused. In recent years the brass doors have ceased to function, the front steps have been barricaded and the roof leaked. Beginning in 2005, with the formation of the McGill Remembers project, some rehabilitation is under way. The roof has been replaced, damage to the stained glass windows, one of the paintings and the recuperation of the battalion colours placed in the Hall have been completed. Larger plans to re-incorporate the Hall into the day to day life of the university continue to be developed. However, it is unlikely due to developments since the original plans were unveiled that Memorial Hall will ever be suitable for large scale events due to its limited size and the loss of surrounding space. However it still holds the central collection of commemorative objects at McGill, perhaps the most important being the Roll of Honour.
New memorials to the Hall, honour the McGill women who made the ultimate sacrifice while serving as battlefield nurses, as well as the Canadian soldiers who lost their lives outside the two World Wars.
