| Royal Victoria Hospital - Glen | |
|---|---|
| McGill University Health Centre | |
.jpg) McGill University Health Center's hospital complex - Glen site | |
  Location in Montreal (Glen site) | |
| Geography | |
| Location | 1001 Decarie Boulevard, Montreal, Quebec, Canada |
| Coordinates | 45°28′19″N73°36′10″W / 45.471851°N 73.602716°W /45.471851; -73.602716 |
| Organization | |
| Care system | Public (RAMQ) |
| Type | Teaching |
| Affiliated university | McGill University Faculty of Medicine |
| Network | McGill University Health Centre |
| Services | |
| Emergency department | Yes |
| Beds | 517 |
| Speciality | General medicine,Surgery,Organ Transplantation |
| Public transit access |   Vendôme |
| History | |
| Opened | 1893 (Legacy site) 2015 (Glen site) |
| Links | |
| Website | muhc |
| Lists | Hospitals in Canada |
TheRoyal Victoria Hospital (RVH) (French:hôpital Royal Victoria (HRV)), colloquially known as the "Royal Vic" or "The Vic", is ahospital inMontreal,Quebec,Canada. It forms the largest base hospital of theMcGill University Health Centre (MUHC), which is affiliated withMcGill University. The hospital was established in 1893 and was based atPine Avenue, now known as the Legacy site, until 2015, when major hospital operations were moved to the Glen site (1001Décarie Boulevard), named for the former Glen railway yards. The future uses of the Legacy site are now under study and it seems likely that the site, which is adjacent to its main campus, will be taken over by McGill University.[1]
The Royal Victoria Hospital was established in 1893 in the historicGolden Square Mile through donations by two public-spiritedScottish immigrants, the cousinsDonald Smith, 1st Lord Strathcona, andGeorge Stephen, 1st Lord Mount Stephen. In 1887, they announced a joint gift ofC$1,000,000 for the construction of a free hospital inMontreal and purchased a site onMount Royal for a furtherC$86,000.[2] The site they bought was the oldFrothingham estate that covered tenacres of land.[3] During 1897 and 1898, Smith and Stephen gave anotherC$1,000,000 between them inGreat Northern Railroad securities to establish anendowment fund to maintain the hospital.[4] Stephen and Smith attached one caveat to their generous contribution to the City of Montreal: the hospital's land and its buildings must only ever be used for healing.[5]
The founders intended the Royal Vic "to be for the use of the sick and ailing without distinction ofrace orcreed," and when it opened in 1893 it was hailed as the "finest and most perfectly equipped (hospital) on the greatAmerican continent".[6] The hospital originally had 150 employees, including 14medical doctors.[7]
Over the years, thephilanthropy and business acumen of many of the residents of theGolden Square Mile - the prominent members ofMontreal's English speaking community - brought the hospital global recognition as a major centre of healthcare and learning. Major contributors includedJames Ross,Richard Angus,Sir Vincent Meredith andSir Montagu Allan.
In 1920, the hospital became a medical research institute through theMcGill University Faculty of Medicine. In 1929, Dr.Wilder Penfield established theMontreal Neurological Institute adjacent to the hospital. Among the list of medical achievements at the Royal Victoria was the first successful kidney transplant in the Commonwealth in 1958. It was achieved by a team led by nephrologistJohn Dossetor and surgeons Joe Luke and Ken MacKinnon. Today, the Royal Victoria Hospital is part of theMcGill University Health Centre.
April 26, 2015, marks the closure of the century-old health center. From 7 a.m. to 1:30 p.m.[8], 32 ambulances and adapted transport vehicles made more than a hundred trips to transfer the 154 patients to the newMcGill University Health Centre (MUHC).
Unoccupied since the departure of staff and patients to the Glen site of theMcGill University Health Centre (MUHC) in 2015, the Royal Victoria Hospital is looking for a new purpose. The Société québécoise des infrastructures (SQI), the real estate arm of theQuebec government, is responsible for redeveloping the 13-hectare heritage property. TheCity of Montreal wants to take advantage of the redevelopment of the former Royal Victoria Hospital site to expand Mount Royal Park by annexing the land behind the buildings that have been vacant for four years. For its part,McGill University has already expressed its desire to occupy the main building to develop a center focused on university research, with the aim of creating a new environment that can accommodate multidisciplinary researchers and scientists, particularly in the fields of sustainable development and public policy[9].
During the2020 coronavirus pandemic, the hospital was being used as an isolation unit for homeless people who were infected withcoronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), as well as those awaiting test results.[10]
In March 2022, the Mohawk mothers' group (Kanien’keha:ka Kahnistensera) filed a lawsuit to halt redevelopment work on part of the site. Indigenous children's graves are believed to be on the site, according to Indigenous survivors of controversial psychiatric mind control experiments conducted between 1954 and 1963 by theAllan Memorial Institute as part of theCIA'sMK-Ultra project. The Superior Court granted an injunction suspending activities in October 2022, and a settlement agreement was signed with McGill University and the SQI to resume work. This agreement provides for the supervision of the work by a panel of three archaeologists, including a Mohawk archaeologist mandated to make recommendations for detecting graves. After anomalies were detected, disagreements between the parties ended the agreement and the Kanien'keha:ka Kahnistensera turned again to the Superior Court, initially without success. After a similar proceeding, the Court reinstated the panel of experts in the project, stating that the work was causing “irreparable harm.” In August 2024, the Quebec Court of Appeal overturned this decision[11][12][13].
| Royal Victoria Hospital - Legacy | |
|---|---|
Hôpital Royal Victoria - Legacy | |
 Original site of the Royal Victoria Hospital, now a historic site part ofMcGill University | |
Location in Montreal | |
| General information | |
| Type | hospital |
| Architectural style | Scottish baronial |
| Location | 687Pine Avenue, Montreal, Canada |
| Coordinates | 45°30′30″N73°34′53″W / 45.50826°N 73.58145°W /45.50826; -73.58145 |
| Completed | 1893 |
| Relocated | 2015 |
| Technical details | |
| Material | Montreal limestone |
| Design and construction | |
| Architect | Saxon Snell |
The hospital was previously housed in a building complex at 687Pine Avenue on the slope ofMount Royal in the borough ofVille-Marie. Hospital operations moved to the new Glen site of theMcGill University Health Centre on April 26, 2015, except for theMcGill Reproductive Centre and theDialysis Clinic, which remained at the original site as of 2015. Of its nine pavilions, three date from the original 1893 hospital and were designed byHenry Saxon Snell in theScottish baronial style. The nearbyAllan Memorial Institute continues to house the psychiatry department. The post-2015 future of the 122-year-old Royal Vic building is yet to be determined.McGill University has unveiled an idea to repurpose the hospital for academic purposes, but also add community and green space.,[14][15] a project that opposes the wishes of the founders, lords Strathcona and Stephen.[16]
The original hospital was designed by the Scottish architectHenry Saxon Snell, who from the 1860s had made a name for himself inEngland andScotland as a leading specialist in the design of hospitals, particularly inLondon. Constructed ofMontreallimestone, the original Royal Vic is distinguished by itscrenelated structures and romanticturrets framing generoussun porches at the corners of its imposing medical and surgical wards. Snell's aesthetic plans for the Royal Vic were inspired by theScottish baronial style of theRoyal Infirmary of Edinburgh. From a medical perspective, his design of the Royal Vic was influenced by the ideas ofFlorence Nightingale as aPavilion Hospital, in which the separation and isolation of both patients and diseases were thought to discourage the spread of infection.[17] The original part of the building was completed in 1893.
The hospital was later enlarged by the addition of new wings of the same architectural style. The H pavilion opened in 1905 as the nurses' residence). The 1920s saw the addition of the Women's andRoss Memorial pavilions. Another expansion was completed in the early 1950s giving the hospital its M and S pavilions; a portion of the original hospital was demolished to accomplish this. Lastly the C pavilion, housing the emergency room, birthing centre, and a large modern ICU opened in 1993. A time capsule is located in the wall facing the C pavilion's elevators on the ground floor.
The Hersey Pavilion, also known as the H Pavilion, was one of the first purpose-built nurses' residences in Canada. It is located on the hospital campus, and was constructed in 1905. It was designed by the well-known Montreal architects Edward &William Sutherland Maxwell. It was designated aNational Historic Site in 1997 in recognition of the important role the building played in the training and professionalism of nurses in Canada.[18][19]
The hospital had an outdoor pool and patio located between the Hersey pavilion andAllan Memorial Institute. As of 2014, the pool is closed until further notice.[20]
Wilder Penfield was born in Spokane, Washington, and spent much of his youth in Hudson, Wisconsin. ... During his life he was called "the greatest living Canadian."
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