Before 1861 : land purchase and conception The land on which Ravenscrag is built was previously part of the estate of
Simon McTavish, a wealthy fur trader, which once stretched from the top of the mountain in the north to
Saint Catherine Street in the south, and from the property of
James McGill in the east to beyond
Drummond Street in the west. In 1803,
Simon McTavish decided to build a "chateau" on his estate, intended to honour his wife, Marie-Marguerite Chaboillez. However, in 1804, he died during construction and construction stopped. In the meantime, the McTavish estate underwent several subdivisions by land investors such as John Torrance, Hugh Taylor and John Hutchison. Some of these lots were sold on November 23, 1853 at an auction organised by auctioneer John Leeming. On this occasion,
Hugh Allan purchased from David Torrance for the sum of a lot of land located on the south-east slope of
Mount Royal, above McTavish house and bordering the McTavish burial site to the east. However, there is no information to determine
Hugh Allan's intention regarding the use he intended for this lot of land when he purchased it. He was himself a land investor: during his life, he purchased several lots of land in the St. Antoine ward in
Montreal on which he had houses or apartment buildings built for rental. However, the construction of buildings intended for rental (row houses or apartment buildings) was at this time rather rare in the northeast of
Sherbrooke Street, between
McGill University and
Guy Street. Due to their privileged location on the mountain, these lands tended to be used as estates on which residences were built in the style of an
English country house, following the British trend in architecture for wealthy families. For example, were built in that area during the 1860s the houses of
John Redpath, named "Terrace Bank" (1861),
Orrin S. Wood, known as "Braehead" (1861),
Andrew Allan, known as "Iononteh" (1865), and David Lewis (1868). Image:John Redpath's house, Terrace Bank, Sherbrooke Street, Montreal.jpg|
Terrace Bank (1861), John Redpath residence Image:Duggan House.jpg|
Braehead (1861), Orrin Squire Wood's residence Image:1890, Andrew Allan House, Ionoteh.jpg|
Iononteh (1865), Andrew Allan's residence Image:James Linton s house Sherbrooke Street Montreal about 1885.jpg|David Lewis House (1868) On ,
Hugh Allan and his wife, Matilda Caroline Smith, had their fourth child and third son,
Hugh Montagu Allan. It was at this time that
Hugh Allan decided to build a new residence that reflected his wealth and power. He decided to build a new home on his land located on the southeast slope of Mount Royal, away from the noise, bustle and prying eyes of the city, thus benefiting from more space, comfort and privacy. Victor Roy, an architect from that firm, was responsible for drawing up the plans. He designed the house as a villa or as an
English country house in the
Italianate style. He followed the architectural trend of the time, which was inspired by the British royal summer residence of
Osborne House, built between 1845 and 1851 for
Queen Victoria and
Prince Albert on the
Isle of Wight. Several houses in England, in the British colonies and in North America, built up until the 1870s, were modeled upon this royal residence. Even in
Montreal, several mansions were built in the
Italianate style during the 1850s and 1860s, including the Harrison Stephens house (1857), the Joseph Mackay house (1858) and the David R. Wood house (1859). However, there is no information indicating why this style was chosen for Ravenscrag, or whether it was a preference of the architect or the client. On the other hand, the construction of Henry Lyman's residence on
McTavish Street in 1859 according to the plans of the architect Richard C. Windeyer may have played a determining role in the choice of the architectural style of Ravenscrag. Indeed, this "villa" has the same architectural style as Ravenscrag. However, this house was demolished in 1941 to make way for a 24-unit appartement building. Image:1862 Highfield (Gloucester) John Giles, Architect.jpg|
Hillfield House (1862), designed by architect
John Giles Image:1864 R. P. Dodge House (Georgetown, DC).jpg| R. P. Dodge Residence (1864) designed by architectural firm Downing & Vaux from
New York Image:1868 W. S. B. Hubbell House.jpg|Hubbell House (1868) designed by architectural firm Kuler & Hubbell (Toledo, Ohio) Image:1869 Design Italian Villa, by L. B. Young.jpg|House design (1869) for an Italianate villa by architect L. B. Young (Cincinnati, Ohio) Image:1850-60 Logan House, Rockfield (LAC-PA-050934).jpg|Logan House, called "Rockfield" (1850s),
Montreal,
Quebec Image:The Lyman house, "Thornhill".jpg|Henry Lyman's residence, called "Thornhill" (1859),
Montreal,
Quebec Image:Victoria Mansion, Portland, Maine USA.jpg|
Victoria Mansion (1860), Portland, Maine Image:Maison Butters - août 2019.jpg| Isaac Butters House (1866),
Stanstead,
Quebec 1861 to 1863 : construction On May 27, 1861, work officially began. In an article published on February 24, 1862 in the
Montreal Herald and Daily Commercial Gazette, the author reported on the progress of the work. He mentioned in particular that the tower was still under construction and that "a conservatory is to be erected at the south-west end of the building." In addition, a water tank was built above the residence, in the mountain, at a sufficient height to supply the building with water up to the third floor. Towards the end of 1862, Hugh Allan hired the Italian painter Giuseppe Guidicini to decorate his new residence. Hugh Allan also commissioned “a work” in marble around September 1862 from the Montreal sculptors Jules Souquère and Gervais Buffle (
Souquère, Buffle & Co.), probably the Carrara marble fireplace mantel in the living room. In addition, a work published by the Canada Railway Advertising Company in 1864 specifies that it was the Montreal Foundry and City Works that made the wrought iron grilles for the gates of the estate, confirming that the construction of the surrounding wall predates 1864. This house would later be purchased by Methodists who would build the
St. James Church there, nicknamed the “Cathedral of Methodism,” which would become the St. James United Church in the 1920s. As for the servants, the City of Montreal's property assessment roll report mentions that Hugh Allan had been collecting rent from his servants who lived on the Ravenscrag estate since 1863. The servants therefore moved in at the same time as the Allan family. The Lovell Directory even specifies in 1865 that the gardener and caretaker of Ravenscrag, Joseph Gordon, resides at the address preceding the address of Hugh Allan on McTavish Street, confirming that he lives in the gate house.
1863 to 1882 : Hugh Allan In April 1863, when Hugh Allan and his family moved into Ravenscrag, the ballroom, its antechambers and the conservatory had still not been built. There is no precise information on when work began on these rooms. However, an order placed by Hugh Allan around 1863 to the company
J. & W. Hilton to furnish the library suggests that construction of the new reception rooms was already underway or about to begin. However, there is mention of the creation of a billiard room located to the north of the living room. Furthermore, this change of purpose so soon after the construction of the residence shows that there were already plans to move the billiard room to one of the future antechambers to the ballroom. Moreover, an article published on December 7, 1872 in the
Canadian Illustrated News confirms this move. In 1865, construction of the reception rooms attached to the main building appears to be underway. In fact, the City of Montreal's property assessment roll report doubled the value of the Ravenscrag estate in 1865 to $200,000 before making a correction and returning it to the initial value of $100,000, It should also be noted that at this time, Hugh Allan's brother, Andrew Allan, was himself having a home built nearby (named "Iononteh"), between McTavish and Peel streets, below Ravenscrag, and that the same architectural firm Hopkins & Wily is superintending both construction sites. For these reception rooms, Hugh Allan appears to have used the same contractors employed for the construction of the main building and outbuildings. Indeed, the original building contracts mention the construction of a conservatory which the contractors undertook to build "in accordance with the said general specifications and plans, and to the perfect satisfaction of the said William Spier & Son, and the said Hugh Allan", and on which payment of the contract was dependent. The newspaper does not mention, however, whether this was the occasion on which Hugh Allan inaugurated his brand new ballroom. In November 1869, Hugh Allan organized a party at Ravenscrag in honor of Prince
Arthur of the United Kingdom, future Duke of Connaught and Strathearn (1874) and
Governor General of Canada from 1911 to 1916. More than 300 guests were present and it was noted that "such a display of rich clothes has never been seen in Montreal". In July 1871,
Queen Victoria granted
Hugh Allan a Knighthood of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland of the
Order of St Michael and St George, as Hugh Allan of Ravenscrag. He was presented to Her Majesty by the
Earl of Kimberley in 1873. At this time,
Hugh Allan commissioned a marble portrait bust from the company of the marble mason Robert Forsyth, which has been on display at Ravenscrag since 1873, after a brief exhibition in the window of Dawson's store. at Ravenscrag (1872) Between September and November 1872, in preparation for the visit to Montreal of the
Earl of Dufferin, 3rd
Governor General of Canada, Hugh Allan decided to redecorate the apartment intended for distinguished guests and to enrich the decoration and furniture of the reception rooms, particularly the ballroom. The companies that decorated and furnished the ballroom for this occasion are not known. However, it is possible that Hugh Allan hired the same companies or contractors that had built the Merchants' Bank building in 1867, on the corner of Notre-Dame and Place d'Armes, founded by Hugh Allan among others. Indeed, several of the contractors hired for its construction were those who had also worked on Ravenscrag, including the architectural firm Hopkins & Wily, the masonry contractor Daniel Wilson, the bricklaying contractor Alex Wand, and the cabinetmaker company
J. & W. Hilton for the furniture. Following this logic, the painted works in the ballroom are possibly a creation of John McArthur's painting company, known as McArthur & Son. In addition to having created the painted works in the Merchants' Bank building in 1867, reminiscent of the medallions illustrating profile portraits on a gold background on the ballroom ceiling. Again, in 1866, he painted the ceiling of a store, on the corner of
Grand St. James Street and
Victoria Square, in a "light blue, enhanced with gilding", similar to the decorations painted on the ceiling of the ballroom. As for the furniture, the company responsible is also unknown. However, it is highly likely that Hugh Allan ordered his furniture from the cabinetmakers
J. & W. Hilton of Montreal. In addition to having produced the furniture for the Merchants' Bank building in 1867, Thus, the windows' gilt cornices and its curtains, designed by Robert Williams, would have come from this company, as well as the armchairs, sofas or large mirrors installed in the niches. On November 21, 1872, three hundred guests attended the ball organized by Hugh Allan in honor of the
Earl of Dufferin. The sumptuousness of this event was probably not unrelated to
Hugh Allan's interest in the construction of a transcontinental railway line. Between 1868 and 1872, Hugh Allan had three dormer windows added to the roof of the front facade of the main building to better light the bedrooms on the 3rd floor, intended for his children. On December 27, 1882, the funeral began at Ravenscrag and continued at St. Andrew's Church on Beaver Hall. All flags in the city of
Montreal were lowered to half-mast and many businesses closed that day to pay their last respects to Hugh Allan. The mayor of Montreal at the time,
Jean-Louis Beaudry, and all of his city councillors participated in the funeral march.
1882 to 1940 : Hugh Montagu Allan On Sir Hugh Allan's death in 1882, his son, Hugh Montagu Allan, became heir to Ravenscrag in accordance with his will which stated: "...and it is my desire that my executors shall convey to my son, Hugh Montagu Allan, the house and ground of Ravenscrag and all the furniture". As soon as 1885, Montagu continued the family's tradition of hospitality. On January 23, 1885, he gave a ball that the press called "the social event of the season." The 240 guests came from Montreal high society, but also from
Quebec city,
New York City and
Boston. On April 21, 1887, in preparation for the construction of the
Royal Victoria Hospital, Montagu was invited by the special committee of the City Council set up for the project to seek his opinion on the construction of a hospital building on the edge of his property. Without formally objecting, he stated that "the idea was not a very nice one to have a hospital next to a private house. [...] If a more suitable site could be chosen, I should doubtless prefer it." In 1889, Montagu commissioned architects
Andrew Thomas Taylor and
George William Gordon to extend the east wing (servants' quarters). An entire third floor was added to this wing. He also asked his architects to make several modifications to the residence. On the one hand, on the outside, the portico was closed and joined to the vestibule, and, because of a privileged view of the city and the
St. Lawrence River, many balconies and terraces were created on the front façade, notably on the roof of the dining room and the old portico. Finally, the dormers on either side of the tower were lowered to pierce the cornice, as in the
William Dow house. On this occasion, the Wighton & Morison Co. is responsible for the masonry. The walls of the vestibule, the entrance hall and the dining room are covered with tapestries. On this occasion, the company of the decorator Walter P. Scott is responsible for all the painting, gilding, installation of tapestries and cabinetry/carpentry work. During the summer of 1902, Montagu Allan had the conservatory of the residence rebuilt and enlarged by the company Lord & Burnham Co. of
Toronto. In 1907, Sir Hugh Montagu Allan received Prince
Fushimi Hiroyasu, brother of the
emperor of Japan, at Ravenscrag and was in charge of his entertainment during his visit to
Montreal. This visit earned him his investiture in the
Order of the Rising Sun. He and Lady Allan decided to move to an apartment in the
Le Château Apartments building on
Sherbrooke Street in 1938. When the war broke out in 1939, the couple immediately offered Ravenscrag to the Canadian government with the intention of serving as a convalescent home for war victims. However, as the government did not know what to do with it, the couple decided in 1940 to offer it to the
Royal Victoria Hospital instead. On November 18 and 19, 1940, Hugh Montague put the residence's furniture up for auction: the auctioneer, Fraser Bros Ltd, sold, among other things, hunting trophies in the form of antelope heads mounted on wall sconces, candelabra supported by life-size caryatids, long hallway carpets, and elephants carved in ivory and ebony. Statues, paintings, carpets, and bedding were sold following “lively” bidding wars.. Their only daughter, Martha Allan, died two years later, on 4 April 1942, leaving the couple without an heir.
1940 to 2021 : Allan Memorial Institute On November 19, 1940, the Royal Victoria Hospital received Ravenscrag estate as a gift from Hugh Montagu Allan. The hospital even considered destroying the residence to replace it with a new building. It was not until 1943 that the hospital decided to transform it into a department dedicated to psychiatry, the first of its kind in Canada.. On this occasion, the institute offered to the
École du meuble de Montréal (School of Cabinetmaking of Montreal) most of the easily removable interior decorations (cabinets, shelves, doors, door frames, etc.), "which accepted them eagerly". In 1945, all the balconies and terraces were destroyed and the balcony adjacent to the dining room was closed off by walls. In addition, the greenhouse was removed that same year. It then had about fifty rooms, four laboratories and offices for administration and staff. The first director of the institute was Dr.
Donald Ewen Cameron, until then a professor of psychiatry at
McGill University. The construction of a new wing made of Queenston limestone increased the institute's capacity to 250 beds. This new wing was inaugurated on October 10, 1953. In 1986, the institute built a new annex "in order to offer a more comprehensive range of psychiatric care" and increased the institute's capacity by twenty beds. In July 1997, the official creation of the
McGill University Health Centre (MUHC) was announced, merging the
Montreal Children's Hospital, the
Royal Victoria Hospital (including the
Allan Memorial Institute), the
Montreal General Hospital, the
Montreal Neurological Institute and Hospital and the
Montreal Chest Institute. In 1999,
McGill University, which was at the time looking for potential spaces to acquire or lease in order to meet the need for space related to the growing number of students in the coming decades, became interested in the properties of the
Royal Victoria Hospital, which was scheduled to move in 2003 or 2004. Ravenscrag in particular became a possible location for a new university pavilion. However, the cost of transforming the hospital buildings and the residence hindered the adoption of such a project. On March 9, 2005, the Quebec government created the "
Site patrimonial du Mont-Royal" (Mount Royal Heritage Site) by decree. Under this decree, the Ravenscrag Estate is part of this protected area. On June 6, 2013,
McGill University announced its interest in purchasing the buildings and land of the
Royal Victoria Hospital, which is scheduled to move to the new MUHC site in 2015. In its plan, it would maintain a mental health focus for the buildings on the Ravenscrag estate (house, stables, and gatehouse). On April 26, 2015, the
Royal Victoria Hospital moved its last patients to the new MUHC site. However, some services from the former
Allan Memorial Institute remains on site, including the MUHC's outpatient psychiatric services. In 2018, the Government of Quebec "commissioned the Société québécoise des infrastructures (SQI) [...] to organize the redevelopment of the entire site [of the former Royal Victoria Hospital and the Allan Memorial Institute] by means of a Master Development Plan". On August 29, 2019, the City of Montreal published its official "''énoncé de l'intérêt patrimonial du site de l'institut Allan Memorial (Ancienne villa Ravenscrag)''" (Statement of Heritage Interest of the Allan Memorial Institute Site (Former villa Ravenscrag)). In this statement, the City established the value it places on various elements of the Ravenscrag estate. For example, it attributed architectural and artistic value to the "exceptional quality of the architectural and design of the villa, the stables, the gatehouse and the surrounding wall, their great beauty and their representation of the opulence of the
Golden Square Mile". Inside the residence, it attributed artistic value to the "formidable library furniture" as well as to the "decor incorporating gilding and the richly carved rosettes on the original ceilings of the ballroom (concealed above a suspended ceiling). nor to the painted portraits on canvas of Lady Marguerite Ethel Allan (painted by the artist
Robert Harris) and Sir Hugh Montagu Allan, both located in the entrance hall, and nor even the portrait bust of Sir Hugh Allan sculpted by Robert Forsyth, located in the portico. On May 26, 2020, the
McGill University Health Centre amended the deed of ownership of the Ravenscrag site: the legal entity of the former
Royal Victoria Hospital officially transferred the Ravenscrag estate to the MUHC.
2021 to current day : McGill University Pavilion On May 21, 2021, the SQI submitted its Master Plan for the development of the site of the former Royal Victoria Hospital and the Allan Memorial Institute, which includes the proposed Royal Victoria University Pavilion, nicknamed the “New Vic,” of McGill University. However, in order for this plan to be validated by the City of Montreal, two draft regulations must first be adopted, thus requiring a public consultation, the work of which begins in August 2021. It even adds that "any future project must include a restoration [of the surrounding wall and its gates]". Work to repurpose the site will begin in the summer of 2022. Archaeological excavations are also being carried out by Arkéos company at various locations on the former site of the Royal Victoria Hospital and the Allan Memorial Institute. On November 29, 2022, draft by-laws No. 21-032 and No. 04-047-223 enabling the implementation of the Master Plan for the development of the site of the former Royal Victoria Hospital and the Allan Memorial Institute of the SQI were adopted by Montreal City Council. On April 4, 2023, the McGill University Health Centre transferred the Ravenscrag estate to the Société québécoise des infrastructures (SQI), in accordance with the 2014 recommendation of the "''Groupe d'experts sur l'avenir des bâtiments hospitaliers excédentaires de Montréal''" (Expert Panel on the Future of Surplus Hospital Buildings in Montreal). The MUHC, however, remains a tenant until April 2, 2028. ==Architecture==