Title and statement of responsibility area
Title proper
General material designation
- Architectural drawing
- Cartographic material
- Object
- Textual record
Parallel title
Other title information
Title statements of responsibility
Title notes
Level of description
Repository
Reference code
Edition area
Edition statement
Edition statement of responsibility
Class of material specific details area
Statement of scale (cartographic)
Statement of projection (cartographic)
Statement of coordinates (cartographic)
Statement of scale (architectural)
Issuing jurisdiction and denomination (philatelic)
Dates of creation area
Date(s)
-
1794 - 2008 (Creation)
Physical description area
Physical description
958 architectural drawings, 3 scale models, 19 cartographic records, 0.5 m of textual records.
Publisher's series area
Title proper of publisher's series
Parallel titles of publisher's series
Other title information of publisher's series
Statement of responsibility relating to publisher's series
Numbering within publisher's series
Note on publisher's series
Archival description area
Custodial history
Most of the architectural records were deposited in the Archives by members of the University's Maintenance staff.
In the 1980s, a King's professor took 25 sheets of Andrew Cobb blueprints to the Public Archives of Nova Scotia; at the request of the University Archivist, Nova Scotia Archives and Records Management, as it is now known, deaccessioned the blueprints from its collection and returned them to the University in 2006. They are included in the collection.
Scope and content
The collection consists of architectural records of five major architects or architectural firms who were commissioned by the University of King's College to design buildings for the University when it was located in Windsor, Nova Scotia, and after its move to its present location in Halifax.
The collection includes proposals, elevations, foundation and floor plans, finish details, and systems such as electrical and steam heating for College buildings. Principal projects represented are the original Main Building in Windsor, designed by Bishop Charles Inglis in c.1794; a 1920 proposal by Andrew Cobb to rebuild the Main Building in Windsor after it was destroyed by fire; Cobb's plans for the buildings of the Halifax campus, including the Main Building, President's Residence, Chapel, and men's dormitory; three buildings designed by J. Philip Dumaresq in the 1960s: Alexandra Hall, Muir Gymnasium, and Prince Hall, the dining room; the new Library, designed by Roy Willwerth of Duffus Romans Kundzins Rounsefell Ltd. in 1987-1990;.and the New Academic Building and the Link, Willwerth designs of the late 1990s.
Besides drawings for buildings that have been constructed, the collection includes drawings for proposed buildings and campus designs that were never realized.
The collection includes cartographic drawings - mostly small published informational maps of the campus showing building locations - and some textual records relating to construction of the buildings, such as contracts, correspondence, newspaper clippings, and published articles relating to the University architects and buildings.
There are gaps in the collection, as there have never been regular deposits of architectural records in the Archives.
Notes area
Physical condition
Many of the drawings are in poor condition, having been heavily used by contractors, University Maintenance staff, and subsequent architects, engineers and trades contractors for renovations and system upgrades. Several drawings in the Cobb and Dumaresq series are fragile. Those in the worst condition have been removed from the collection and are awaiting the attention of a paper conservator; these drawings have not been arranged or described in this finding aid;
Some drawings are faded or reproduced in a manner that is not easy to read.
Immediate source of acquisition
The Andrew Cobb blueprints were transferred from storage in the Main Building to the Archives at the time the new Library was opened. Most of the other architectural drawings were deposited in the Archives by University maintenance staff as construction and renovation projects were completed over several years. Some records were acquired by the Archives over a period of years from unrecorded sources.
Accession no. 2002.28 (2002) deposited by Drake Petersen, University Librarian and Archivist: 70 blueprints of University of King's College Halifax campus/ Andrew Cobb, Architect. 1928.
Accession No. 2003.12 (March 2002) deposited by Ken Newman, Director of Maintenance: 16 blackline prints of the New Academic Building / Duffus Romans Kundzins Rounsefell Architects Ltd.
Accession No. 2003.37 (Nov 2003) deposited by Ken Newman, Director of Maintenance: 70 blackline prints of the New Academic Building/ Duffus Romans Kundzins Rounsefell; Alexandra Hall/ J. Philip Dumaresq Nov 1961; Gymnasium / J. Philip Dumaresq Nov 1961.
Accession No. 2005.21 (June 2005) deposited by Ken Newman, Director of Maintenance: 3 thick rolls of architectural drawings from Dumaresq projects of the early 1960s (Alexandra Hall, Gymnasium); one roll of Duffus Romans Kundzins Rounsefell drawings for the renovation of the Alexandra Hall attic in the 1980s, when rooms in the fourth floor were added.
Accession No. 2006.3 (July 2006) deposited by Patricia Chalmers, Assistant Librarian, who found drawing inside a roll of Andrew Cobb blueprints: "Sketch for Memorial Building, King's College, Windsor"/ R.A. (Richard Arthur) Johnson (d. 1949), c. 1923; scale 1/8" to 1 ft; water color.
2006.70 (June 2006) deaccessioned by Nova Scotia Archives and Records Management: 25 blueprints of University of King's College, Studley Campus, Dalhousie, Job no.268 I Andrew R. Cobb September 1928
Arrangement
The records are arranged into series by architect in chronological order by date of first project built for King's. The series are:
UKC.ARCH.l (Charles Inglis architectural drawings ( c.1794-c. l854));
UKC.ARCH.2 (R. A. Johnson architectural drawings (c.1919-1920));
UKC.ARCH.3 (Andrew R. Cobb architectural drawings (1920-1942));
UKC.ARCH.4 (J. Philip Dumaresq architectural drawings (1960-1978));
UKC.ARCH.5 (Duffus Romans Kundzins Rounsefell Ltd. architectural drawings (1985-2002));
UKC.ARCH.6 (G. E. C. Brown Architect Ltd. - NAB proposal 1983);
UKC.ARCH.7 (Noel Fowler & Keith Graham Library proposal 1985);
UKC.ARCH.8 (Library proposal/ unidentified architect (c.1983));
UKC.ARCH.9 (Reinhardt L. Petersmann landscape plans (1991-1996));
UKC.ARCH.C (Cartographic materials (1922-2008));
UKC.ARCH.T (Architectural projects textual records).
The textual materials are arranged by architect (bibliographic information); by building (various information, e.g., Tidings articles); and by subject.
Language of material
- English
Script of material
Location of originals
Few of the architectural drawings in the collection are original drawings; most are blueprint or blackline reproductions. The location of the original Cobb architectural drawings is unknown. It is assumed that the originals of the Dumaresq and Duffus drawings are in those architects' offices, but time has not permitted research into the original drawings' locations.
Availability of other formats
Restrictions on access
Terms governing use, reproduction, and publication
Most records are open. Some records may be restricted because of fragility.
Copyright held by the architect or architectural firm of some of the architectural records, or by the University of King's College.
Reproduction of the drawings is not permitted.
Finding aids
Finding aid for the University of Kings College Architectural Records Collection available below, as well as in-person in the King’s Library Archives.
Uploaded finding aid
Associated materials
Photographs of most of the buildings are available in the University of King's College photographs collection.
UKC.A: University of King's College Board of Governors records fonds: deed and
abstract of title in Board of Governors records UKC.A.1.1.62
UKC.P8: University of King's College photographs collection buildings series
Tidings, the alumni newsletter, catalogued as a serial in the University Library's Special Collections at call number LH3 KS T52, has articles relating to the buildings.
King's College, Builder of Character (Appeal Committee, c.1925), has Andrew Cobb drawing of"The Future King's" and a view of a proposed Quad through the arch of a residence hall.
"The New King's" (picture of proposed campus), The Record, Feb. 1927, v. 48, p. 27.
Accruals
Further Accruals expected, and accruals have occurred beyond the scope of the accompanying finding aid (post-2008).
General note
The architectural history of the University of the University of King’s College is just as intricate as the history of the institution as a whole. The University of King's College was founded in Windsor, Nova Scotia, in 1789, by Anglican Loyalists who moved to the province after the American Revolution. King's, the oldest English-speaking Commonwealth university outside the United Kingdom, received its Royal Charter from King George III in 1802. From its humble beginning as a wooden college in Windsor, NS, to its main building burning down in 1920, to its subsequent relocation to Halifax and its current position adjacent to the larger campus of Dalhousie university, to the construction of the campus in the city and the buildings that have gone up since, the insight provided by the architectural drawings that comprise this collection provide invaluable insight about King’s.
A more detailed history of King's buildings can found in the file list linked above.
Conservation
All of the Andrew R. Cobb blueprints (series UKC.ARCH.3) have received conservation treatment by paper conservator Julia Landry. She made minor repairs on most sheets and created Mylar sleeves for all sheets that house two sheets back-to-back. As the conservator paired the blueprints according to size and not by building, Archives Assistant Oriana Duinker had to rearrange the blueprints in the Mylar sleeves to allow sorting by building. She also constructed a few Mylar sleeves to accommodate blueprints displaced from their original Mylar sleeves during the arrangement process.
Alternative identifier(s)
Standard number
Standard number
Access points
Subject access points
Place access points
- Canada » Nova Scotia » Hants County » Windsor
- Canada » Nova Scotia » Halifax County » Halifax
Name access points
- University of King's College (Subject)
- Cobb, Andrew R. (Subject)
- Dumaresq, Philip J. (Subject)
- Duffus Romans Kundzins Rounsefell Ltd. (Subject)
- Inglis, Charles (Subject)
- Johnson, R. A. (Subject)
- Willwerth, Roy (Subject)
Genre access points
Control area
Description record identifier
Institution identifier
Rules or conventions
Status
Level of detail
Dates of creation, revision and deletion
2022-09-02
Language of description
- English