This thesis analyses the architecture of the Royal Victoria College (Bruce Price, 1896--1899), a purpose-built women's residential college of McGill University, Montreal, and its first extension (Percy Nobbs, 1930--193 1), as material evidence of the rhetorical construction and negotiation of gender. A contextual analysis of the original RVC reveals the gender significance of the building's relationship to its affiliate institution (McGill), to an urban geography (Phillips Square), and to a commercial typology (the railway hotel), while a spatial analysis examines the significance of its women occupants as 'architects', and of changes to the building over time. The thesis concludes that the building served as an important site in turn-of-the-century gender negotiations---one that helped to contest "separate spheres" rhetoric and that stands as evidence of women's active participation in the shaping of spatial relations and social identities.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:LACETR/oai:collectionscanada.gc.ca:QMM.20937 |
| Date | January 1998 |
| Creators | Miller, Deborah L., 1960- |
| Contributors | Adams, Ann Marie (advisor) |
| Publisher | McGill University |
| Source Sets | Library and Archives Canada ETDs Repository / Centre d'archives des thèses électroniques de Bibliothèque et Archives Canada |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Electronic Thesis or Dissertation |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Coverage | Master of Architecture (School of Architecture.) |
| Rights | All items in eScholarship@McGill are protected by copyright with all rights reserved unless otherwise indicated. |
| Relation | alephsysno: 001642606, proquestno: MQ50689, Theses scanned by UMI/ProQuest. |
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