Redpath Hall
university building in Montreal, Quebec, Canada
Redpath Hall is a historic building at 3461 McTavish Street in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, on the main campus of McGill University. It was originally the reading room of the Redpath Library, which opened in 1893 as McGill's first dedicated library building. During the first half of the 20th century, the library was extended several times to the south, and the expanded building became known as the Redpath Library Building. Subsequently, the adjacent McLennan Library Building was built between 1967 and 1969. Today, the Redpath-McLennan library complex houses the Humanities and Social Sciences Library, the largest branch of the McGill University Library.
Redpath Hall is now used as a venue for concerts and other events, and it is operated by the Schulich School of Music. The French Classical pipe organ was built by Hellmuth Wolff and donated in 1981. Redpath Hall is also home to a large portion of the university's portrait collection, which is managed by the McGill Visual Arts Collection.
History
The original library building was completed in 1893 and donated by Peter Redpath, who also founded the Redpath Museum at the university. It was designed in the Romanesque style by Andrew Taylor of Edinburgh, Scotland.
This brief starts where responsible research should: with the source description of “Redpath Hall” as university building in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Everything that follows is an evidence route, not borrowed authority.
Why this record matters
The subject matters to the places & architecture register because the source frames it as university building in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Its deeper value depends on whether names, dates, institutions and citations support that framing.
Place names and jurisdictional language are key evidence: both can reveal earlier catalogue descriptions and overlooked record series. The source revision retrieved here is dated Mar 3, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q4405650. VIAF identifies the subject as 159363989. The Library of Congress control number is n50008187. Authority coordinates are 45.504, -73.577. 3 of 4 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1893, 1967, 1969 and 1981.
A single description cannot reconcile every naming convention, rebuilding phase or administrative transfer associated with a place. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
How to read it
Treat names, boundaries and functions as historically changeable. Maps, plans, inventories and administrative records can clarify what the place meant at different dates.
- Historic place names
- Jurisdictional context
- Routes into maps and plans
Contemporary maps, plans, listed-building records, estate papers and the responsible local or national archive.
Three-step research path
- Establish the record: confirm the title “Redpath Hall”, its source revision and the description used here.
- Expand the search: follow Redpath Hall primary sources, Redpath Hall archive and Redpath research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
- Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.
Questions for further research
- Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Redpath Hall”?
- Which earlier names or jurisdictions may reveal additional records?
- Which authority defined the place, boundary or structure at the relevant date?
Search terms from this dossier
This entry incorporates text from “Redpath Hall” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.