The Royal Victoria Hospital (RVH) ( (''HRV'')), colloquially known as the "Royal Vic" or "The Vic", is a

hospital A hospital is a healthcare institution providing patient treatment with specialized Medical Science, health science and auxiliary healthcare staff and medical equipment. The best-known type of hospital is the general hospital, which typically ...

Montreal Montreal is the List of towns in Quebec, largest city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Quebec, the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, second-largest in Canada, and the List of North American cit ...

Quebec Quebec is Canada's List of Canadian provinces and territories by area, largest province by area. Located in Central Canada, the province shares borders with the provinces of Ontario to the west, Newfoundland and Labrador to the northeast, ...

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its Provinces and territories of Canada, ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, making it the world's List of coun ...

. It forms the largest base hospital of the

McGill University Health Centre The McGill University Health Centre (MUHC; ) is one of two major healthcare networks in the city of Montreal, Montreal, Quebec. It is affiliated with McGill University and one of the largest medical complexes in Montreal. It is the largest hospita ...

(MUHC), which is affiliated with

McGill University McGill University (French: Université McGill) is an English-language public research university in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Founded in 1821 by royal charter,Frost, Stanley Brice. ''McGill University, Vol. I. For the Advancement of Learning, ...

. The hospital was established in 1893 and was based at

Pine Avenue Pine Avenue () is an east–west street in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. This street serves as the dividing line between the Downtown Montreal, downtown Ville-Marie, Montreal, Ville-Marie borough and Boroughs of Montreal, borough of Le Plateau-Mon ...

, now known as the Legacy site, until 2015, when major hospital operations were moved to the Glen site (1001 Décarie 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.

History

The Royal Victoria Hospital was established in 1893 in the historic

Golden Square Mile The Golden Square Mile (, ), also known as the Square Mile, is the nostalgic name given to an urban neighbourhood developed principally between 1850 and 1930 at the foot of Mount Royal, in the west-central section of downtown Montreal in Quebec, Ca ...

through donations by two public-spirited

Scottish Scottish usually refers to something of, from, or related to Scotland, including: *Scottish Gaelic, a Celtic Goidelic language of the Indo-European language family native to Scotland *Scottish English *Scottish national identity, the Scottish ide ...

immigrants, the cousins Donald Smith, 1st Lord Strathcona, and George Stephen, 1st Lord Mount Stephen. In 1887, they announced a joint gift of C$1,000,000 for the construction of a free hospital in

and purchased a site on

Mount Royal Mount Royal (, ) is a mountain in the city of Montreal, immediately west of Downtown Montreal, Quebec, Canada. The city's name is derived from the mountain's name. The mountain is part of the Monteregian Hills situated between the Laurentian M ...

for a further C$86,000. The site they bought was the old Frothingham estate that covered ten

acre The acre ( ) is a Unit of measurement, unit of land area used in the Imperial units, British imperial and the United States customary units#Area, United States customary systems. It is traditionally defined as the area of one Chain (unit), ch ...

s of land. During 1897 and 1898, Smith and Stephen gave another C$1,000,000 between them in Great Northern Railroad securities to establish an

endowment fund A financial endowment is a legal structure for managing, and in many cases indefinitely perpetuating, a pool of financial, real estate, or other investments for a specific purpose according to the will of its founders and donors. Endowments are ...

to maintain the hospital. 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.Elspeth Angus interviewed by the Montreal Gazette
/ref> The founders intended the Royal Vic "to be for the use of the sick and ailing without distinction of race or

creed A creed, also known as a confession of faith, a symbol, or a statement of faith, is a statement of the shared beliefs of a community (often a religious community) which summarizes its core tenets. Many Christian denominations use three creeds ...

," and when it opened in 1893 it was hailed as the "finest and most perfectly equipped (hospital) on the great American continent". The hospital originally had 150 employees, including 14

medical doctor A physician, medical practitioner (British English), medical doctor, or simply doctor is a health professional who practices medicine, which is concerned with promoting, maintaining or restoring health through the study, diagnosis, prognosis ...

s. Over the years, the

philanthropy Philanthropy is a form of altruism that consists of "private initiatives for the Public good (economics), public good, focusing on quality of life". Philanthropy contrasts with business initiatives, which are private initiatives for private goo ...

and business acumen of many of the residents of the

- the prominent members of Montreal's English speaking community - brought the hospital global recognition as a major centre of healthcare and learning. Major contributors included James Ross, Richard Angus, Sir Vincent Meredith and

Sir Montagu Allan Lieutenant-Colonel Sir Hugh Andrew Montagu Allan, (October 13, 1860 – September 26, 1951) was a Canadian businessman and philanthropist. He was the principal heir of his father, Sir Hugh Allan, and became deputy chairman of the family-owned ...

. In 1920, the hospital became a medical research institute through the

McGill University Faculty of Medicine The Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences is one of the constituent faculties of McGill University. It was established in 1829 after the Montreal Medical Institution was incorporated into McGill College as the college's first faculty; it was t ...

. In 1929, Dr.

Wilder Penfield Wilder Graves Penfield (January 26, 1891April 5, 1976) was an American-Canadian neurosurgeon. He expanded brain surgery's methods and techniques, including mapping the functions of various regions of the brain such as the cortical homunculus. ...

established the

Montreal Neurological Institute The McGill University Health Centre (MUHC; ) is one of two major healthcare networks in the city of Montreal, Quebec. It is affiliated with McGill University and one of the largest medical complexes in Montreal. It is the largest hospital system i ...

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 nephrologist

John Dossetor John Beamish Dossetor, (19 July 1925 – 6 April 2020) was a Canadian physician and bioethicist who is notable for co–coordinating the first kidney transplant in Canada and the Commonwealth. Biography Born in Bangalore, India, Dossetor att ...

and surgeons Joe Luke and Ken MacKinnon. Today, the Royal Victoria Hospital is part of the

. During the 2020 coronavirus pandemic, the hospital was being used as an isolation unit for homeless people who were infected with

coronavirus disease 2019 Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by the coronavirus SARS-CoV-2. In January 2020, the disease spread worldwide, resulting in the COVID-19 pandemic. The symptoms of COVID‑19 can vary but often include f ...

(COVID-19), as well as those awaiting test results.

Legacy site

The hospital was previously housed in a building complex at 687

on the slope of

in the borough of Ville-Marie. Hospital operations moved to the new Glen site of the

on April 26, 2015, except for the McGill Reproductive Centre and the Dialysis Clinic, which remained at the original site as of 2015. Of its nine pavilions, three date from the original 1893 hospital and were designed by Henry Saxon Snell in the

Scottish baronial Scottish baronial or Scots baronial is an architectural style of 19th-century Gothic Revival which revived the forms and ornaments of historical architecture of Scotland in the Late Middle Ages and the Early Modern Period. Reminiscent of Scot ...

style. The nearby Allan 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.

has unveiled an idea to repurpose the hospital for academic purposes, but also add community and green space., a project that opposes the wishes of the founders, lords Strathcona and Stephen. The original hospital was designed by the Scottish architect Henry Saxon Snell, who from the 1860s had made a name for himself in

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

and

Scotland Scotland is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It contains nearly one-third of the United Kingdom's land area, consisting of the northern part of the island of Great Britain and more than 790 adjac ...

as a leading specialist in the design of hospitals, particularly in

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

. Constructed of

limestone Limestone is a type of carbonate rock, carbonate sedimentary rock which is the main source of the material Lime (material), lime. It is composed mostly of the minerals calcite and aragonite, which are different Polymorphism (materials science) ...

, the original Royal Vic is distinguished by its crenelated structures and romantic

turret Turret may refer to: * Turret (architecture), a small tower that projects above the wall of a building * Gun turret, a mechanism of a projectile-firing weapon * Optical microscope#Objective turret (revolver or revolving nose piece), Objective turre ...

s framing generous sun porches at the corners of its imposing medical and surgical wards. Snell's aesthetic plans for the Royal Vic were inspired by the

style of the

Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh The Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh (RIE) was established in 1729, and is the oldest voluntary hospital in Scotland. The new buildings of 1879 were claimed to be the largest voluntary hospital in the United Kingdom, and later on, the Empire."In Com ...

. From a medical perspective, his design of the Royal Vic was influenced by the ideas of

Florence Nightingale Florence Nightingale (; 12 May 1820 – 13 August 1910) was an English Reform movement, social reformer, statistician and the founder of modern nursing. Nightingale came to prominence while serving as a manager and trainer of nurses during th ...

as a ''

Pavilion In architecture, ''pavilion'' has several meanings; * It may be a subsidiary building that is either positioned separately or as an attachment to a main building. Often it is associated with pleasure. In palaces and traditional mansions of Asia ...

Hospital,'' in which the separation and isolation of both patients and diseases were thought to discourage the spread of infection. 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 and Ross 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.

Hersey Pavilion

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 a National Historic Site in 1997 in recognition of the important role the building played in the training and professionalism of nurses in Canada.

Pool

The hospital had an outdoor pool and patio located between the Hersey pavilion and Allan Memorial Institute. As of 2014, the pool is closed until further notice.

Notable surgeons

* Sir Thomas Roddick, first Surgeon-in-Chief of the Royal Vic *

Edward William Archibald Edward William Archibald (August 5, 1872 – December 17, 1945) was a Canadian surgeon. Archibald was born in Montreal, Quebec, and received his initial education in Grenoble, France. Upon returning to Canada, he attended McGill University, r ...

, dubbed Canada's first

neurosurgeon Neurosurgery or neurological surgery, known in common parlance as brain surgery, is the medical specialty that focuses on the surgical treatment or rehabilitation of disorders which affect any portion of the nervous system including the brain, ...

; President of the

American Surgical Association The American Surgical Association is the oldest surgical organization in the United States. History It was founded in 1880. Their publication, ''Annals of Surgery'', was started in 1885. A collection of the association's papers are held at the Na ...

*Lt.-Colonel

John McCrae Lieutenant-Colonel John McCrae (November 30, 1872 – January 28, 1918) was a Canadian poet, physician, author, artist and soldier during World War I and a surgeon during the Second Battle of Ypres, in Belgium. He is best known for writing th ...

, Royal Vic physician who wrote ''

In Flanders Fields "In Flanders Fields" is a war poem in the form of a rondeau, written during the First World War by Canadian physician Lieutenant-Colonel John McCrae. He was inspired to write it on May 3, 1915, after presiding over the funeral of friend ...

'' * Norman Bethune, developed a mobile blood-transfusion service during the

Spanish Civil War The Spanish Civil War () was a military conflict fought from 1936 to 1939 between the Republican faction (Spanish Civil War), Republicans and the Nationalist faction (Spanish Civil War), Nationalists. Republicans were loyal to the Left-wing p ...

OM, CC, CMG, FRS, founded the

; called "the greatest living Canadian" in his day. * Martin Henry Dawson, the first person in history to inject

penicillin Penicillins (P, PCN or PEN) are a group of beta-lactam antibiotic, β-lactam antibiotics originally obtained from ''Penicillium'' Mold (fungus), moulds, principally ''Penicillium chrysogenum, P. chrysogenum'' and ''Penicillium rubens, P. ru ...

into a patient, 1940 * Arthur Vineberg OC, developed the 'Vineberg Procedure' at the Royal Vic in 1950 * Kathryn Stephenson, the first female American plastic surgeon; first female editor of ''

Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery ''Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery'' is a peer-reviewed medical journal and the official publication of the American Society of Plastic Surgeons. It covers all aspects of plastic and reconstructive surgery Reconstructive surgery is surgery p ...

'' *

OC, co–coordinated the first

kidney transplant Kidney transplant or renal transplant is the organ transplant of a kidney into a patient with end-stage kidney disease (ESRD). Kidney transplant is typically classified as deceased-donor (formerly known as cadaveric) or living-donor transplantat ...

in both

and the

Commonwealth A commonwealth is a traditional English term for a political community founded for the common good. The noun "commonwealth", meaning "public welfare, general good or advantage", dates from the 15th century. Originally a phrase (the common-wealth ...

, 1958 *

Balfour Mount Balfour M. Mount, (born 14 April 1939) is a Canadian physician, surgeon, and academic. He is considered the father of palliative care in North America. Born in Ottawa, Ontario, he received his medical degree from Queen's University in 1963 and ...

OC, considered the father of

palliative care Palliative care (from Latin root "to cloak") is an interdisciplinary medical care-giving approach aimed at optimizing quality of life and mitigating or reducing suffering among people with serious, complex, and often terminal illnesses. Man ...

North America North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere, Northern and Western Hemisphere, Western hemispheres. North America is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South Ameri ...

. * Jonathan Larmonth Meakins OC, Royal Vic Chief Surgeon; 4th person & 1st Canadian Nuffield Professor of Surgery at

Oxford Oxford () is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city and non-metropolitan district in Oxfordshire, England, of which it is the county town. The city is home to the University of Oxford, the List of oldest universities in continuou ...

, 2002

Notable nurses

* Mabel Clint, war-time nurse who served with the

Canadian Expeditionary Force The Canadian Expeditionary Force (CEF; French: ''Corps expéditionnaire canadien'') was the expeditionary warfare, expeditionary field force of Canada during the First World War. It was formed on August 15, 1914, following United Kingdom declarat ...

during

World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

in France, Belgium, and Greece. * Helen Kendall, war-time nurse who was awarded the

Royal Red Cross The Royal Red Cross (RRC) is a military decoration awarded in the United Kingdom and Commonwealth for exceptional services in military nursing. It was created in 1883, and the first two awards were to Florence Nightingale and Jane Cecilia Deeb ...

References

External links

* Annmarie Adams, Medicine by Design: The Architect and the Modern Hospital, 1893–1943. University of Minnesota Press, 2008.
Photograph: Aerial View of the Royal Victoria Hospital circa 1925. McCord MuseumPhotograph: Royal Victoria Hospital circa 1918. McCord Museum
{{authority control Hospitals in Montreal Côte-des-Neiges–Notre-Dame-de-Grâce Organizations based in Canada with royal patronage Hospitals established in 1893 Hospital buildings completed in 1893 Scottish baronial architecture in Canada Mount Royal Gothic Revival architecture in Montreal Hospitals affiliated with McGill University