Chronology

1873: The Montreal YMCA leaves rented space and opens its first building (now demolished) on Victoria Square. In this new space it expands evening classes begun in 1863.

1891: The YMCA opens its new building on Dominion Square, on the site of the present Sun Life Building. The Education Program grows.

1900: On January 5, the Jesuit community purchases the Decary farm, the land on which Loyola was later built. The property contains a melon patch and apple orchard.

1912: The YMCA moves to its new building on Drummond Street. It includes a pool and gym. The Educational Department is housed on the third floor but it quickly expands.

1913: Construction begins at Loyola. The first students arrive in 1915, The first phase of construction ends in 1916 with the completion of the Refectory Building, the Psychology Building (the old High School or Junior Building), and the beginnings of the Administration Building (two storeys in the centre and one storey in each wing).

1920-21: One storey is added to the central body of the Administration Building, and two storeys are added to each of the wings, for a uniform three storeys.

1924: The Arena/Rink for Loyola College officially opens in January.

1925-26: The Educational Department becomes the YMCA Schools in 1925. In 1926 it is renamed Sir George Williams College (SGW) and it becomes coeducational.

1927: Work on the Administration Building is completed with the addition of the top two storeys and the main tower.

1931: A 12-storey annex on Stanley Street is added to the Drummond Street building.

1933: The Loyola Chapel is built adjacent to the Administration Building. Original plans called for the chapel to be built behind the Administration Building, but it is built instead to face out to the community on Sherbrooke Street.

1941: An addition to the arena and rink is built as a COTC (Canadian Officers Training Corps) drill hall. This becomes a cafeteria in 1946. Artificial ice is installed in the rink in 1954.

1945-47: The first storey of the Central Building is occupied in 1945; the building is completed in 1947. It occupies the space that was originally intended for the chapel.

1956: The first building constructed especially for SGWU is inaugurated. In 1964 it is named the Kenneth E. Norris Building.

1959: A sixth floor is added to the Norris Building to accommodate the library, which moves from the adjacent YMCA Building.

1961: The Drummond Science Building opens its doors, featuring state-of-the-art classrooms and laboratories, and a science library. The complex marks the beginning of a new building development plan for the campus.

1964: Hingston Hall opens in April, the first building on campus primarily devoted to a student residence. In the fall, the Vanier Library opens.

1966: Official opening of the Hall Building, providing 18 acres of interior space. SGWU separates financially from the YMCA. The financial settlement stipulates that the YMCA owns the Norris Building and SGWU owns the Hall Building. SGWU continues to occupy the Norris Building, but rents the space from the YMCA.

1967: A new Athletic Complex opens on the south side of Sherbrooke Street.

1968+: Buildings on Mackay and Bishop Street are bought with an eye to future expansion in the area of the Hall Building.

1968: The Bryan Building opens to house the newly created Department of Communications Arts, the Department of Psychology, and some Biology facilities.

1973: The long-awaited Campus Centre opens.

1974: SGW and Loyola merge to create Concordia University.

1975: Concordia leases the Bishop Court Building to house administrative offices.

1976: Bishop Court is classified as a historical monument by the ministère des Affaires culturelles on April 22 but it is not limited to use as residential housing. Renovations are carried out and the building is occupied.

1979: The SGW component of the Faculty of Commerce (now the John Molson School of Business) leaves the Norris Building and moves into rented facilities in the GM Building at the southeast corner of Guy and de Maisonneuve.

1979: Victoria School on de Maisonneuve Boulevard is rented and renovated to provide SGW facilities for Athletics & Recreation and Continuing Education.

1979-80: In 1979 some of the Fine Arts Faculty moves into the newly renovated Visual Arts (VA) Building, the former Mid-Town Motors. Renovations are completed and it is officially opened in 1980.

1981: Concordia purchases Bishop Court.

1989: Major expansion and renovation of the Vanier Library doubles the shelf capacity.

1990: The Concert Hall opens on the east end of the Campus. In 1999 it is named in honour of jazz great Oscar Peterson.

1992: The J. W. McConnell Building is opened, the first new building project for Concordia University. It includes the R. Howard Webster Library. Concordia severs its last YMCA ties as it leaves the Norris Building, which remains empty for eight years.

1997: Concordia buys the Faubourg Ste-Catherine tower building into which move Continuing Education, and later the Mel Hoppenheim School of Cinema.

1997: Concordia buys the land at the southwest corner of Guy and de Maisonneuve. In 1998, in collaboration with the City of Montreal, Concordia makes it temporarily a green space.

1998: Concordia buys the York Theatre Building.

1998: Concordia buys the GM Building in which the Faculty of Commerce (now the John Molson School of Business) is concentrated.

2000-01: Concordia develops a long-term master building plan to be phased in over many years. For the downtown campus the plan includes judicious property acquisition and management, a move towards owned rather than rented properties, renovation of some existing facilities and the construction of two large new buildings. The downtown campus is to be consolidated into the area bordered generally by Sherbrooke, Guy, Ste-Catherine, and Bishop, a “Quartier Concordia” that will have a distinct identity.

2000-01: Concordia develops an ambitious long-term master building plan to be phased in over many years. For the Loyola campus the plan includes construction of a new Science complex and major renovation of selected existing facilities.

2001: The renovated Norris Building opens as the new site of the Montreal YMCA headquarters and Central Branch. The YMCA buildings on Drummond and Stanley Streets, once home to Sir George Williams and Concordia and now owned by a developer, are vacated; they are demolished in 2002.

2001: The York Theatre building is demolished.

2001: Construction begins on an $85-million Science Complex.

2002: Construction begins on the Engineering and Computer Science and Visual Arts Integrated Complex on the SGW campus.

2003: The Richard J. Renaud Science Complex is inaugurated. The new building wraps around and is integrated with the completely renovated Bryan Building, creating a complex in which the natural sciences are consolidated.

2004: Major renovations on the Drummond Science Complex begin.