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Université de Montréal Building on Saint-Denis Street, 1903

Black and white photograph of a five-story imposing building built like a hook with its interior facing the street. In the center, on the sidewalk opposite the building, three men are standing and looking at the camera.

McCord Museum Archives, 1903

Formerly a branch of Québec City’s Université Laval, the building on the picture took the name of the Université de Montréal in 1919, a little before the inauguration of the Radium Institute’s laboratory. Completed in 1895, this building’s purpose was to bring together the various faculties of the fledgling university under one roof. Occupied in turn by the Université de Montréal (1919-1942), the École des métiers commerciaux (1946-1968) and the Institut du tourisme et de l’hôtellerie (1968), the building was torn down in 1969 following the third fire in its history. Today, it is the site of the Université du Québec à Montréal’s (UQAM) Hubert-Aquin pavilion.