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1929 drawing by Andrew Cobb of King’s Campus in Halifax (detail).

RESIDENCE RETROSPECTIVE

At King’s, learning together is intertwined with living together. One hundred years after the fire, residences are still essential to the King’s experience

THROUGHOUT OUR HISTORY and to the present day, the majority of King’s students have participated in residence life at some point during their undergraduate degrees, whether through living there or spending time studying or socializing in residence. King’s residences have always been more than just boarding houses offering convenient lodgings—they are places where students come together within our College to begin learning the rigours of academic discipline, challenging and supporting one another, and living with and for others. This year, King’s marks a significant anniversary: 100 years since a fire destroyed the Windsor, N.S. campus. At this milestone in our history, we are taking a moment to reflect on how our residences have evolved over a century, while yet maintaining their core character as the lifeblood of King’s. Harking back to that fateful day, this story begins on Feb. 5. 1920, when the main building of King’s College, Windsor, caught fire. It spread quickly to all parts of the building, destroying the heart of the campus. “HISTORIC MAIN BUILDING OF OLD KING’S BURNED…THE OLDEST UNIVERSITY IN THE DOMINION, AND ONE OF THE MOST FAMOUS ON THE CONTINENT, LIES IN RUINS…ALL THE STUDENTS ESCAPED, AND SOME OF THE FURNISHINGS WERE SAVED,” read an account in the Halifax newspaper of the day, according to Fenwick Williams Vroom’s 1941 book King’s College: a Chronicle, 1789- 1939: Collections and Recollections. University administrators originally planned to rebuild in Windsor. Halifax architect Andrew Cobb was hired to prepare proposals for a new main building and an expanded campus, while students attended classes in two adjoining houses near Windsor High School. Construction proceeded as far as a foundation for the new building. However, when the Carnegie Corporation of New York offered the necessary funds to rebuild if the College formed a partnership with Dalhousie University, the administration decided to move to Halifax. The official agreement between King’s and Dalhousie took effect on September 1, 1923. Andrew Cobb was again retained to design the Halifax campus in its present location near the northwest corner of the Dalhousie campus. The Main Building (now called the A&A) was designed to match the old College building in Windsor. Like the old building, it is dominated by a large central portico, with impressive Ionic columns made of Indiana sandstone.

The fourth floor, Angel’s Roost, was built originally to provide accommodations for 12 domestic employees. The Roost is still located on the top floor of the A&A, overlooking the campus, but is now home to upper-year students, primarily those in the one-year Bachelor of Journalism degree.

Both wings of the Main Building were constructed as residence bays. The south bay was named North Pole Bay, after the same in in Windsor. The north bay was first occupied by female students and named Alexandra Hall, after the women’s residence in Windsor. Later, in 1962, the new Alexandra Hall—now King’s largest residence—opened, and the north bay was renamed Cochran Bay. Chapel Bay, Middle Bay and Radical Bay share one roof and are identical bays each designed to house 24 students.

The design of these buildings was based on the Oxford-Cambridge model of small colleges. The “bay model” of residence living, in which residence rooms are clustered around a common stairwell, creates a tight sense of community as students pass by their peers as they come and go. Cobb designed the buildings this way, to serve the College’s educational mission and to enable this wider King’s experience that generations of students have enjoyed since the buildings’ construction.

The cornerstone of the new Main Building was laid on May 9, 1929, at Encaenia. A full decade after the fire, King’s officially re-opened on October 2, 1930.

Now, 100 years after the fire, we look back at our stone buildings and the sense of camaraderie they encourage, while simultaneously looking forward to the continuation of this tradition.

“The time I threw the FYP book out the window of my 2 East room only to have someone throw it back in.” —Melanie Henley, BJ(Hons)‘87

“One particular week in the winter (1991-92) there had been so much snow, that the pile around the flagpole was probably eight to 10 feet high. I decided to leave the comfort of my dorm room in Radical Bay as the sun was out and placed myself atop the mound of snow in a chair to read my latest FYP book.” —Nick Taylor, 1991-92

“They said things like, ‘This place is amazing. You’re going to do fine.’ I felt welcomed.”— Stephanie Dick, BA(Hons)’07, on moving into Alexandra Hall in 2002 and opening her desk drawer to find notes left behind by former residents.

“Middle Bay. I remember my radiator being broken and my room being over 30 degrees for a few days until it could be fixed. I made toast on the radiator.”—David Wallis, BA’17

“I was very ill. I ended up being quarantined in my room for weeks because of a severe case of mono. It was those nursing students checking in on me, bringing meals from the dining room, and Librarian Janet Hunt putting together books for me so I could later do some assignments for my classes which I wasn’t able to attend, that got me through that difficult period. Their thoughtfulness and compassion were so special and helpful to me that to this day I remember and think of them.” —Mary Barker, BA’67, HF’97

“Because the residences are quite small you get close to your roommates and your floormates quickly. After the first two days, I already had people that I would start calling my best friends and I still do.”—Sophia Josenhans, BSc’19

RESIDENCE TIMELINE

1789 The University of King’s College was founded in Windsor, N.S. on the residential model of the Universities of Oxford and Cambridge, where living in college is part of a student’s total academic experience.

1790s Bishop Charles Inglis designed the first College building, which was probably completed in 1792. It consisted of five bays separated from one another by three feet of stone: President’s Bay, because it accommodated the President and his family, Chapel Bay, Middle Bay, Radical Bay, North Pole Bay.

“The Burning” (as the photo is so labeled) on Windsor’s campus.

1920 On Feb. 5, in the depths of winter when hydrants were frozen, fire burned the university’s main building in Windsor to the ground, destroying students’ rooms in the Bays. That night, beds were brought into the Science room for the male students. The female students’ residence, Alexandra Hall, did not burn.

1912 President T. W. Powell drew up rough plans and gave them to a local carpenter to construct three new buildings, including a female students’ residence.

1914 Alexandra Hall, the new residence for women, opened in Windsor. It was named for Queen Alexandra (1844-1925), wife of King Edward VII.

1923 Carnegie Corporation of New York offered financial assistance if King’s agreed to form an association with Dalhousie University in Halifax. On Sept. 1, King’s and Dalhousie signed Articles of Association and King’s began its transition to Halifax, after which, King’s students began attending classes in Halifax.

1923-30 Female students lived in Shirreff Hall at Dalhousie. They were not permitted to leave after evening chapel and required the President’s permission to stay out until 10 p.m. (30 mins earlier than the men’s curfew).

1926 A campaign was launched to raise funds to build a permanent campus in Halifax.

1928 King’s retained Halifax architect Andrew R. Cobb to design the new campus in its present location near the northwest corner of the Dalhousie campus.

1929 During Encaenia celebrations on May 29, a cornerstone was laid at the site of the new King’s, adjacent to Dalhousie campus.

“I absolutely loved living in Chapel Bay six years ago! We had such a great group of students in our little home.” —Alexandria Samson, BA(Hons)’17

1930 The new buildings formally opened on Oct. 2 including residences for men and women students, a President’s house, administrative offices, library, lecture rooms, dining hall, a chapel consecrated by Archbishop Clarendon Lamb Worrell and a large recreation hall. “The buildings are of stone, of fireproof construction, and modern in every respect, and are within a few minutes’ walk of the Dalhousie University buildings.” (1930-1931 Calendar) Women moved into the first dormitory for female students, at the north end of the main building (next to the President’s Lodge). “North Pole Bay — our Dantethemed bay party was pretty epic.” —Matt Aronson, BA(Hons)’01

A bas-relief of Aeneas and Anchises, brought to the new campus from Windsor, was installed over Middle Bay’s door.

A floorplan of the “bay model” of residence living in which residence rooms are clustered around a common stairwell.

1962 Opening celebrations were held for Alexandra Hall on Oct. 30, at which Gladys Manning (honorary DCL 1962) unveiled a plaque honoring her husband, industrialist Fred C. Manning, for whom the common room was named.

With an increasing number of students enrolling in the early 1960s, a larger residence for women became necessary. In 1962, enrolment reached 150, an all-time high. King’s retained J. Philip Dumaresq’s architectural firm to design a women’s residence, dining hall, and gymnasium.

1941 The Royal Canadian Navy took over King’s buildings as an Officer’s Training Establishment. During the next four years, until May 1945 when the war had ended and King’s reclaimed its campus., nearly 3,600 Officers were trained for sea duty with the R.C.N.

King’s students and academic staff carried on during this period at Dalhousie and Pine Hill Divinity Hall (1947-1948 Calendar). Male students lived at Pine Hill and female students at Dalhousie’s Shirreff Hall. There were no Deans for the duration of the war.

1954 Residence fees were $485-$515 for board, light, etc., depending on location of room plus a $15 damage deposit (1954-1955 Calendar).

“The Carly Simon song whose lyrics included, ‘I took a Learjet up to Nova Scotia to see the total eclipse of the sun.’ I experienced [that] from my top floor room of Radical Bay. Day turned to night! I think it was 1968? It was a long time ago. An image I’ll never forget.” —Ian Deakin, BA’70

1974 The number of King’s students in residence was so low that the university considered moving all residents into the Bays and renting Alexandra Hall to Dalhousie as office space or for use as a Dal residence or transferring it to a realty company to manage.

1975-76 Cochran Bay, once a men’s-only residence, became co-ed. The Don that year was Tom Curran. In the 1976 Record he wrote, “From all points of view, the ‘co-ed experiment’ was a success.”

1984-85 After the Board Committee on Student Housing recommended additional residential space be built on the fourth floor of Alexandra Hall, 26 single rooms and a Don suite were added.

1997 $1 million was spent on a new sprinkler system and new wiring in the Bays.

1998-99 Improvements included electrical renovations, addition of a bicycle storage room and work on the reception area of Alexandra Hall. Other work involved loss of the tunnel between Radical and North Pole Bays, necessary for the planned new academic building.

For fun, a residence bed was hauled out into the Quad, 1985.

2000-01 This was the first year there was only one Dean, the Dean of Residence, instead of two, a Dean of Men and a Dean of Women.

2003-04 In late September, Hurricane Juan caused minor damage and flooding that was dealt with quickly. In February, a blizzard named White Juan caused power outages, transportation problems and depletion of emergency services. In both cases, a central concern was to ensure that the students were fed and safe, and that all fire hazards were minimized. Sodexo’s kitchen staff slept in common rooms and worked at all times to ensure students had three hot meals every day.

1986 On Jan. 14, N.S. Minister of Education Terry Donahoe officially opened the Alexandra Hall fourth-floor addition. The addition increased the university’s residence capacity to 122 women and 124 men.

1991 The most celebrated campus animal of the time was given a full-page tribute in The Record (p. 52): “King’s College lost one of its oldest and most familiar members on Monday, Oct. 14, 1991. Gregi, the campus cat, was hit and killed by a pizza delivery vehicle in the driveway of King’s College.” Gregi came to the college as a stray found by Ruth Smith, secretary to then-President Dr. John Godfrey, around 1976. His name was from the King’s motto: Deo Legi Regi Gregi. College Regulations distributed to all residence students (1991) stated: Section A. College Property, #6: “The keeping of animals and pets on College property is prohibited. The College cat is, of course, excepted from this rule.”

Students ready for their move across the Quad into a newly renovated Alex Hall.

Students relaxing in the Manning Room, 2002.

2002-03 Installation of a Smart Card access system started. Campus Patrol was introduced to handle conduct and discipline on campus.

Final construction of lower level rooms in Alex Hall East Wing was completed. This added eight rooms (five doubles and three singles). A Don’s suite, computer room, another washroom and an office/practice space for the Chapel choir were also added. The 14 new beds and washroom completed in the West Wing in 2001 made 27 new beds in 16 rooms. These rooms were built to accommodate growth in Foundation Year Program and anticipation of the double cohort year.

2005 Residences have by now witnessed two centuries of evolving technology. Heating has changed through wood-burning fireplaces and coal stoves to hot water radiators. A single telephone at a front desk has expanded to telephones in every room. Cable internet has gone wireless. Plastic smart cards with electronic strips give access to the Bays and Alexandra Hall basement. Storm closures are sent via text message to cell phones through Dalhousie’s DalAlert service.

2008 A residence application management system enabled online applications for rooms.

2010 Hurricane Earl happened on Move-In Day (Sept. 4) littering the Quad with fallen trees and broken branches. Lights were dim as a backup generator struggled to keep electricity on. The welcome barbecue and opening ceremonies were moved into Prince Hall. Students chanted and danced while cleaners and facilities staff frantically worked to keep water from flooding into the main building. By the end of the day, the sun was shining and students had moved in.

Common areas in North Pole Bay.

Chapel, Middle and Radical Bay, 2017.

2016 North Pole Bay renovations include a new kitchen and common room and it becomes a residence primarily for upper-year and international students featuring all single rooms instead of the traditional bay style.

2005/06 Alexandra Hall became a co-ed residence. Male students moved into rooms in the west wing of the first floor, and every second room in the basement.

2013-14 Two firsts for residence: a woman resided in Middle Bay, and a same-sex couple shared a Don’s suite.

2014 In January, a sprinkler head burst on the fourth floor of Alexandra Hall. It had frozen as a result of extreme cold weather. Accommodations were arranged at the Lord Nelson Hotel. The end result was the complete renovation of the west wing of Alexandra Hall.

“The Halloween night water fights.” —David Townsend, BA’88, who lived in North Pole Bay and Angel’s Roost

Thank you to King’s Librarian and Archivist Janet Hathaway for her assistance in compiling this timeline.

2014 In July, the Dean of Residence’s job description was updated and title changed to Dean of Students to better reflect the Dean’s growing responsibilities for non-academic student life outside of the residence. In particular, the Dean had become a main point-of-contact with student wellness services (e.g., student life, health, counseling, health promotion) at Dalhousie.

2019 Move-in day, the symbolic first day of a student’s life in residence and a treasured College tradition, happens under a glorious blue sky, and the tradition of living in residence continues. Move-in day 2019.

2020 On Feb. 5, the community gathers to remember the 100th anniversary of the Windsor fire. Students go about their regular, day-to-day lives studying, learning, laughing and living together in residences and in friendship.

THE POWER OF COLLECTIVE GIVING

Scholarship encourages people to give even a little bit as they’re able

by Jane Doucet, BJ(Hons)’93

THE YOUNG ALUMNI SCHOLARSHIP at the University of King’s College is proof that the saying “lots of little things add up to big things” is true—and perhaps no one knows that better than Gabrielle Rekai, BA(Hons)’13.

After graduation, Rekai started working in recruitment in the Registrar’s Office at King’s. “I was the biggest proponent for all of the things that King’s does and the valuable education it offers,” she says.

“Since I had just graduated, I had a lot of friends who felt like I did—that King’s was great and everyone should go there. I started thinking about how to make King’s accessible to even more students.”

In 2015, Rekai came up with the idea to solicit several small donations from a large pool of people, which when tallied would be a significant amount of money. “I thought, what if I pledged to give $20 a year? It would be useful if a lot of people did it. I wouldn’t miss that amount of money, and I knew that my friends who were also new alumni wouldn’t miss it either.”

That’s how the Young Alumni Scholarship for first-year students was born. Rekai raised funds for the first scholarship by using Facebook. “I sent a message to about 20 of my friends who I thought would want to be involved,” she says. If someone responded, “What impact can I have if I don’t have a lot of money?” Rekai would reply, “I know you have $20! Tell you what—if you don’t have it, I’ll pay it for you this year. But I never had to.”

USING YOUR COMMUNITY TO MAKE AN IMPACT Although donations to the $1,000 scholarship mostly come from alumni, anyone can

Gabrielle Rekai, who started the Young Alumni Scholarship at King’s, with (then) Dalhousie Chancellor Fred Fountain, at Encaenia 2013.

“I didn’t set out to leave a legacy, I just wanted to encourage the idea of using your community to make an impact.”

—Gabrielle Rekai, BA(Hons)’13

give; for example, Rekai’s parents and brother-in-law, none of whom went to King’s, are donors.

“Scholarships are meant to provide a means to even the playing field,” says Rekai. “Some of them show that you’ve done well in sports or volunteering. But maybe you didn’t go to a school that provided these things. The Young Alumni Scholarship is for someone who wants to go to King’s and needs a bit of financial help.”

There are currently three Young Alumni Scholarship recipients at King’s: Fiona Purdy, Grace Higgins and Luke Cameron. Purdy, who is 19 and from Halifax, is honoured to have been chosen. “My experience at King’s has already opened many doors for me, including playing on the varsity badminton team,” she says. “This campus truly embodies a diverse and welcoming community for all.”

Purdy’s academic plans are to study general sciences and follow where her passions take her. “Currently I’m interested in biology and psychology,” she says, “and hopefully I’ll be able to use my education to find my dream job.”

Hearing sentiments like this make Rekai happy. She’s now in her second year of law school at Queen’s University after earning a master’s degree in social justice education at the University of Toronto. “I feel very humbled to be part of this scholarship,” she says. “I didn’t set out to leave a legacy, I just wanted to encourage the idea of using your community to make an impact.”

KING’S LAUNCHES UNDERGRADUATE FELLOWSHIPS IN PUBLIC HUMANITIES King’s students think broadly, analytically and for themselves. We graduate alumni who find meaningful work in various organizations and industries including public administration, media, finance, global high-tech, law, medicine, business, scientific research, education, social enterprises and the arts. King’s students have long exhibited broad intellectual and interpersonal skills. They are innovative, creative and possess an ability to apply understanding in diverse contexts. And now more than ever before, they are eager to transfer and apply their humanities education to work experience in the community— even before graduating. to 10-week summer work placements in organizations. These new fellowships are open to all students who are taking or have taken King’s Foundation Year Program. King’s will fund $5,000 towards each fellowship, including benefits. Partner organizations gain an unparalleled opportunity to offer King’s students relevant work experience while receiving the value a humanities perspective brings to a workplace. Please visit ukings.ca/public-humanities if you or your employer are interested in hiring a public humanities fellow this summer and want to find out how to apply.

In response, King’s announces its new Undergraduate Fellowships in Public Humanities. For the first time, current King’s students and King’s alumni have an opportunity to partner through eightThank you for your interest!

*King’s Undergraduate Fellowships in Public Humanities are generously supported by a gift from BMO Financial Group.

Shirley Hambrick, photo courtesy CBC

A LIFETIME’S PURSUIT OF UNDERSTANDING

A generous bequest of half her estate enriches opportunities for current and future students

by Philip Moscovitch, MFA’19

SHIRLEY HAMBRICK NEVER attended King’s. She wasn’t an alumnus, or a parent of a King’s student.

But she valued King’s so much that when she died in July 2017, the long-time Dartmouth High School history teacher left half of her estate to the university in memory of her late husband, Donald Hambrick—a generous gift that will better the lives of students and other young people for years to come.

“People sometimes like to follow the true and tried path and not go off in all kinds of directions, but Shirley took a lot of chances,” says her close friend and executor Alice Hale. “She tried to introduce her students to different ideas. She didn’t go in for just ordinary teaching. She taught what she thought would be of value to students and make them think beyond Dartmouth and Canadian history. She spread her wings and got her students interested as well.”

That attitude would have fit in well at King’s.

HOW HER GIFT IS BEING DIRECTED Shirley didn’t put any restrictions on her gift of $149,000. “I would like to make special mention of my husband’s special interest in supporting King’s,” her will read. The university has directed $100,000 of the bequest toward endowing the previously dormant Prince Scholarship for African-Nova Scotian students, $40,000 to fund scholarships for the Humanities for Young People program, and $9,000 to bring Indigenous band Alan Syliboy & the Thundermakers to King’s for a performance in spring 2020. The Prince Scholarship at King’s was established in 1959 but went into abeyance when its anonymous benefactor died. With the help of this bequest and other major gifts to the fund, it was resurrected in 2019, providing two $6,000 annual scholarships, renewable for four years. King’s Vice-President Peter O’Brien says there is a desire at the university “to build up relationships with African-Nova Scotia communities. President Bill Lahey (who also personally significantly contributed to the Prince Scholarship) believes we need to be building connections with the African-Nova Scotia community, which had lagged in various ways, and this would be an ideal way of doing so.” Humanities for Young People reaches out to a different group: high-school students with an interest in humanities. Now entering its fifth year, co-founder and co-director Laura Penny describes the week-long program as “a summer camp for high school students that encourages young people’s interest in literature, politics, history, and philosophy, and gives them a taste of university.” The program has a new theme each year. For 2020, it’s “Hindsight.” Penny remembers learning about Shirley Hambrick’s gift by email and “actually being speechless. And I am usually the opposite of that. Having diverse perspectives in the room is necessary for everybody. The scholarship is not just about the particular kid who gets one. It’s about the whole group having a better conversation.” She adds, “The year we [studied] the challenges of reconciliation, up to a quarter of the class was Indigenous, and that made a huge difference in terms of the conversations we could have. The year we did migration, one of our students was himself an Afghan refugee. So, of course, having him there, having had this experience, was tremendously educational for all of us… It’s an awesome bequest. For us, it’s several years of scholarships. I’m very glad for this gift.”

GIVING THROUGH TEACHING Asked what Shirley would have thought of the way King’s is putting her gift to use, Hale says, “I’m sure she would approve of that.” Shirley’s late husband, Donald Hambrick. was a lifelong Anglican, she says, and Shirley had an interest in Anglicanism too. “They looked upon King’s as more philosophical than some other universities,” she says. King’s Vice-President Peter O’Brien, BA(Hons)’90, knew Shirley and Don, although he had not seen either of them in years and did not know Shirley had planned a bequest. He first met Don as an 18-year-old studying at King’s. “My first encounter with Don would have been in 1986,” O’Brien says. “I was a student in the Foundation Year Program, and there was an old guy who would come to all the lectures and I’d see him in the coffee line and so on. I didn’t really know who he was at the time, but that was Don.” A grea t lover of classics and philosophy, Don, who died a year before Shirley, was also a public school teacher. He earned his undergrad in classics in 1951, and his PhD in 1998, and taught in both the history and classics departments at Dalhousie. Always seeking new perspectives, he and Shirley travelled extensively, particularly to China and Korea, where Shirley taught for a year. A sked if he was surprised by the gift, O’Brien says, “In retrospect, no. Just as they both gave their lives to a pursuit of understanding and transmitting their giving to others through teaching, I think it’s completely consistent with the lives they lived, and very much appreciated.” A s Shirley’s gift demonstrates, one need not be extravagantly wealthy to make a significant and concrete difference in the lives of students. For information on giving, please visit https://ukings.ca/alumni/giving/ ways-to-give/ or contact the advancement office at 902-422-1271 ext. 129.

SHIRLEY’S GIFT WILL SUPPORT:

1. Endowing the previously dormant Prince Scholarship for African-Nova Scotian students like 2019 recipients Ayele Atiwoto and Isabella Jefferies.

2. Scholarships for the Humanities for Young People program.

3. Bringing I ndigenous band Alan Syliboy & the Thundermakers to King’s for a performance in spring 2020.

“Just as they both gave their lives to a

pursuit of understanding and transmitting

their giving to others through teaching, I

think [Don and Shirley’s gift is] completely

consistent with the lives they lived, and very

much appreciated.” —King’s Vice President, Peter O’Brien