Brock Hall

Location:

1874 East Mall

Date:

Original construction 1939-40
North wing (Brock Hall Annex) 1956-57
Student Services Centre 1991-93

Architect:

1939-40 Sharp & Thompson
1956-57 Thompson Berwick Pratt
1991-93 Poon Gardner Billington

Cost:

$9,735,000 total

Sources of funds:

1939-40: $80,000 (Donations from students, alumni, and the general public, money borrowed by Alma Mater Society, grant from UBC Board of Governors, Brock family)
1956-57: $335,000 (Loan supported by a continuation of the self-imposed annual $5 levy on all students, after the Memorial Gymnasium debt had been retired)
1991-93: $9,320,000 (UBC, B.C. government, $2M B.C. Lotteries) - used for construction of the East Wing and the Annex.

Name history:

Dr. R.W. Brock, Dean of Applied Science and his wife Mildred, who both died in a plane crash in 1935.

Use history:

1940-67 Student Union Building (SUB).
1967- UBC administration, Student Services and UBC Crane Library (Annex), Office of the Senate.
2005 - Original Brock Hall reopened as UBC Welcome Centre
[1960]-2021 Amateur Radio Society (located in Annex – formerly located in south east hut behind Brock Hall)
1993-2005 Rick Hansen Institute
1968-2021 Crane Library.

Architectural features:

Annex - 3-storey concrete structure, grey glazed brick exterior finish. To be torn down 2021 to make way for the new multi-use Brock Commons complex.
The Annex had a mosaic, "Symbols of Education," on exterior, which was created by UBC Architecture professor Lionel Thomas. It was the first student-commissioned work of art on campus, unveiled October 1959. Each symbol represents an academic discipline and their arrangement suggests the inter-relationship of different areas of study. The mosaic was removed in preparation for the demolition of the Annex and will be installed elsewhere.

Notes:

Seriously damaged by fire in 1954. The University Administration wanted to tear the building down completely, but the students prevented that. AMS immediately started a fund "Rebuild the Brock" and within six months the building was repaired at cost of $400,000 and re-opened.
On 23 January, 1970 a bomber set off a stick of dynamite behind a heat radiator and caused $400 in damage. A hole was blown in the ceiling of the floor below and a window was blown out. The blast narrowly missed Paul “Rhythm” Green, a poet, on the floor below. The bombing was the second of three bombings across campus in a four week period, the others were in Brock Hall and the Geography Building. The reason for the bombs and the bomber were never discovered. Later in the year several sticks of dynamite were found on top of the administration building.
In 1968, the ballroom and Cafeterias from the SUB days were converted to Study Halls for the UBC Library.
UBC Crane Library is part of UBC Disability Services and features braille and audio materials, as well as recording studies for the creation of audio materials for students with special needs. This Library will move into the new Brock Commons when it is completed.
Located in front of Brock Hall is the Victory Through Honor Totem Pole. The Original Totem Pole was erected in 1948 and then replaced with a replica in 2004.

Sources:

Thompson, Berwick, Pratt; Goodall; UBC Archives; Ubyssey; UBC Reports; "Terrorism in Canada 1960-1989" - ISBN: 0-662-18303-7; The Province; Vancouver Sun..

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