The Henry Hicks Academic Administration Building

Photograph of the Henry Hicks Arts & Administration Building

The Arts and Administration Building, as it was originally called, was the chief aim of Dalhousie's 1947 Expansion Campaign, and it would be the largest building project Dalhousie had yet undertaken. Architects Mathers and Haldenby of Toronto, who had designed several buildings at the University of Toronto, were hired in 1948 to design the new building. Locally-based architect Leslie R. Fairn was consulting architect. The cornerstone was laid in 1949 by J. McGregor Stewart, chairman of the Board of Governors. The building's official opening took place December 1, 1951. Among the distinguished guests was the Honourable Dr. Lewis William Douglas, former U.S. Ambassador to Great Britain. Repairs were made on window frames and deteriorating mortar and the ivy was removed in 1992. In 2003 interior renovations were carried out on the hallway and interior of Financial Services to improve lighting and update the outmoded '60s look. The basement restrooms were renovated in 2005. The building was renamed the Henry Hicks Academic Administration Building in October 2002 after Henry Hicks, the former President of Dalhousie. Today the Henry Hicks Academic Building houses classrooms, a number of student services and administration offices, as well as the Office of Research Services.

Photograph of the Arts & Administration Building construction
Photograph of the Arts & Administration Building clock tower construction
Photograph of four men standing on top of the Arts & Administration Building
Photograph of the Arts and Administration building tower
Photograph of the Henry Hicks Arts & Administration Building
Photograph of the Arts and Administration building and campus parking lot
Photograph of the Arts and Administration building
Photograph of the Arts and Administration building from Coburg Road
Aerial view of the Henry Hicks Arts & Administration Building
Photograph of the Henry Hicks Arts & Administration Building
Aerial photograph of the Henry Hicks Arts & Administration Building
Photograph of the Arts & Administration Building front entrance
Photograph of Studley campus in the fall
Photograph of the cornerstone of the Arts & Administration Building being laid

The cornerstone was laid in 1949 by J. McGregor Stewart, chairman of the Board of Governors.

Photograph of two men with the bronze seal in the Arts & Administration Building

The bronze seal in the floor of the entryway of the Academic Administration Building, featuring the Dalhousie crest.

Sources

"Henry Hicks Academic Administration Building," Buildings of Dalhousie: An Illustrated History, Dalspace.

The Lives of Dalhousie University, Volume Two, 1925-1980: The Old College Transformed

The Ways of the Fifties, 1951-1957
The Henry Hicks Academic Administration Building