Montreal's Mountainside Campus
McGill University
McGill's oldest building, the Arts Building, was begun in 1839 to a Classical Revival design by John Ostell. Around it stand a Victorian Greek Revival museum, a Richardsonian Romanesque library hall and a Brutalist library from the 1960s.
- 5Buildings
- 3Traditions
- 1843Oldest · Arts Building
- 1969Newest · McLennan Library Building
Campus map and Look Around
Tap a numbered pin to see that building from the street with Apple Look Around.
Planning the visit
- Fly intoMontréal–Trudeau International Airport (YUL)
Trudeau airport is in Dorval, west of downtown. The 747 express bus runs from the airport into the city centre, a short walk from the Roddick Gates.
- Getting aroundWalking / Montreal Metro
The downtown campus climbs the slope of Mount Royal from Sherbrooke Street. McGill metro station on the Green Line is a few blocks south of the main gates.
- Colors and teams
McGill is an English-language university in French-speaking Montreal, so you will hear both languages all over campus and on the streets around it.
5 buildings to stamp
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Photo: D. Benjamin Miller, CC0, via Wikimedia Commons Arts Building
853 Sherbrooke Street West, Montreal, QC
The oldest building on campus, begun in 1839, sits at the top of the main avenue with its Classical Revival portico. Wings were added in 1861 and 1925, and Moyse Hall theatre fills the north wing.
- Built
- 1843
- Architect
- John Ostell
- Style
- Classical Revival
- Today
- Arts faculty classrooms and offices
-
Photo: D. Benjamin Miller, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons Redpath Museum
859 Sherbrooke Street West, Montreal, QC
Sugar baron Peter Redpath gave McGill the oldest building in Canada built specifically as a museum. Its own university calls it an unusual and late example of the Greek Revival in North America.
- Built
- 1882
- Architect
- A. C. Hutchison and A. D. Steele
- Style
- Greek Revival
- Today
- Natural history museum
-
Photo: ArildV, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons Redpath Hall
3461 McTavish Street, Montreal, QC
Once the reading room of McGill's first library building, this Richardsonian Romanesque hall is now a concert venue run by the Schulich School of Music. It has a French Classical pipe organ by Hellmuth Wolff.
- Built
- 1893
- Architect
- Andrew Taylor
- Style
- Richardsonian Romanesque
- Today
- Concert and events hall
-
Photo: No machine-readable author provided. Beltz~commonswiki assumed (based on copyright claims)., Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons Macdonald-Harrington Building
815 Sherbrooke Street West, Montreal, QC
Built in 1896–97 as the chemistry building, a gift of tobacco magnate Sir William Macdonald. Today it houses all of McGill's architecture studios, so future architects learn inside a Renaissance Revival landmark.
- Built
- 1897
- Architect
- Sir Andrew Taylor
- Style
- Renaissance Revival
- Today
- School of Architecture and School of Urban Planning
-
Photo: Happysquirrel, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons McLennan Library Building
3459 McTavish Street, Montreal, QC
A seven-storey reinforced concrete library built in 1967–69 next to the old Redpath Library. Together they form McGill's largest library, the Humanities and Social Sciences Library.
- Built
- 1969
- Architect
- Dobush, Stewart and Bourke
- Style
- Brutalist
- Stories
- 7
- Today
- University library
3 traditions to check off
Stamped! keeps these as a checklist, so you can tick each one off on the visit.
Chimes of the Roddick Gates
The Roddick Gates, McGill's formal entrance on Sherbrooke Street, carry four clocks whose bells strike the Westminster Quarters. Walk through the gates onto campus and listen for the chimes.
James McGill's Tomb
The remains of founder James McGill rest in a monument in front of the Arts Building, moved there from a Montreal cemetery and consecrated in 1875. Visitors can stop by the founder's tomb on the lower campus.
Photo at the Three Bares
The Three Bares fountain, unveiled at Spring Convocation in 1931 in a tree-lined dell near the Redpath Museum, appears in countless convocation photographs. Visitors can take their own photo at this well-known campus landmark.
Know McGill University well?
Students and alumni know the traditions best. Suggest one we're missing, a building worth a stamp, or a fix. Every suggestion is checked against a source before it goes into the app.
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Stamp all 5 on your visit.
Tour McGill University in 3D before you go, add it to a college road trip and earn a passport stamp at every building. Free on iPhone and iPad.
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