History of the School

The School of Architecture at McGill University was founded in 1896, when a chair in architecture was established in the Faculty of Applied Science (today, the Faculty of Engineering) by Sir William C. Macdonald. At that time, the program leading to the professional degree was four years and the School operated in the Macdonald Engineering Building under the leadership of its first Director, Stewart Henbest Capper. The School of Architecture is now one of eight units reporting to the Dean of the Faculty of Engineering. This includes six engineering departments - Chemical Engineering, Civil Engineering and Applied Mechanics, Electrical and Computer Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, Mining and Materials Engineering, and Bioengineering - and two Schools - the School of Urban Planning and the School of Architecture. Since 1987, the Schools of Architecture and Urban Planning have been housed in the Macdonald-Harrington Building, which was constructed to accommodate the Departments of Chemistry and Mining by architect Sir Andrew Taylor in 1896, and renovated for the two Schools by architects Ray Affleck and Arcop Associates. Through a generous gift, in 2017 the School of Architecture was renamed the Peter Guo-hua Fu School of Architecture. View a detailed history here:   History by Norbert Schoenauer