Aerial view showing construction of the Physics addition, with a partial view of the Bowl and Administration Building.

Looking northeast at the Physics Building.

Bio/Historical Note: The Physics Building was constructed by Smith Bros. & Wilson General Contractors from 1919 to 1921 for $437,000, and was designed by D. R. Brown and H. Vallance. It was officially opened in 1922. The building originally housed the Departments of Physics, Botany and Zoology, the Plant-pathology section of the Dominion Department of Agriculture, as well as the soils branch of the Canadian Department of the Interior. The Physics Building possessed non-vibratory walls, laboratories for Electricity and Magnetism, Light, Electron Physics, wireless work, a number of smaller research rooms, a dark room and a large lecture theatre, which was quickly put to use by many different colleges. The attic of the building was used as a temporary museum, with meteorological recording equipment situated on the roof. The basement was fitted with offices and classrooms, as well as with two fireproofed rooms containing the Shortt Library of Canadiana. During the 1946-1947 academic term a Physics Annex was "constructed" on campus at a cost of $46,000. Built initially to accommodate the Betatron, the Annex was a World War II air force hut that was reassembled on campus. After the completion of the Betatron Building in 1951 the annex was used to provide “temporary” classroom space for the department. Though scheduled to be demolished after the completion of the Physics Addition in 1967, the annex would remain on campus until it was destroyed in fire on 28 April 1979. A proper addition to the Physics Building was finally completed in 1967 by W.C. Wells Construction for $2,029,876.

Two images on card stock. Image 1: "The "Bowl" Looking West" with north wing of Murray Memorial (Main) Library at left, Chemistry and Arts buildings in background. Image 2: "Looking East from the Arts Building" with elevated view of buildings from l to r: Chemistry, Biology, Physics, Administration and Physics buildings and north wing of Murray Memorial (Main) Library.

Looking northwest across the Bowl at the Geology Building under construction.

Bio/Historical Note: The construction of the Geology Building marked a return to the early style of campus architecture. The Department of Geology had been formed in 1927 and for the next six decades was based in the east wing of the Engineering Building. A growing faculty and student population had forced the department to cobble together makeshift accommodation in trailers and remote campus buildings. Designed by the architectural firm Black, McMillan and Larson of Regina, the building was given a neo-Collegiate Gothic exterior to blend harmoniously with the other buildings in the central campus. The two-and-a-half-storey building was erected just south or the Bowl side of the W.P. Thompson Biology Building, providing 8,543 square metres for office, laboratory, library, classroom, and storage space for rock and fossil samples. The exterior was clad with greystone and dressed with tyndal limestone. The dominant feature of the interior was a two-story atrium that featured the mosaics for the former exterior walls of the Thompson Building, a life-size skeleton of a Tyrannosaurus rex and geological and biological displays. The $18.5 million Geology Building was completed in 1988 and fused the space between Physics and Biology and linked, through a walkway, with Chemistry, creating an integrated science complex on campus.

Construction nearing completion of the Geology Building; winter scene.

Bio/Historical Note: The construction of the Geology Building marked a return to the early style of campus architecture. The Department of Geology had been formed in 1927 and for the next six decades was based in the east wing of the Engineering Building. A growing faculty and student population had forced the department to cobble together makeshift accommodation in trailers and remote campus buildings. Designed by the architectural firm Black, McMillan and Larson of Regina, the building was given a neo-Collegiate Gothic exterior to blend harmoniously with the other buildings in the central campus. The two-and-a-half-storey building was erected just south or the Bowl side of the W.P. Thompson Biology Building, providing 8,543 square metres for office, laboratory, library, classroom, and storage space for rock and fossil samples. The exterior was clad with greystone and dressed with tyndal limestone. The dominant feature of the interior was a two-story atrium that featured the mosaics for the former exterior walls of the Thompson Building, a life-size skeleton of a Tyrannosaurus Rex and geological and biological displays. The $18.5 million Geology Building was completed in 1988 and fused the space between Physics and Biology and linked, through a walkway, with Chemistry, creating an integrated science complex on campus.

Geology Building in winter; students walking in foreground.

Bio/Historical Note: The construction of the Geology Building marked a return to the early style of campus architecture. The Department of Geology had been formed in 1927 and for the next six decades was based in the east wing of the Engineering Building. A growing faculty and student population had forced the department to cobble together makeshift accommodation in trailers and remote campus buildings. Designed by the architectural firm Black, McMillan and Larson of Regina, the building was given a neo-Collegiate Gothic exterior to blend harmoniously with the other buildings in the central campus. The two-and-a-half-storey building was erected just south or the Bowl side of the W.P. Thompson Biology Building, providing 8,543 square metres for office, laboratory, library, classroom, and storage space for rock and fossil samples. The exterior was clad with greystone and dressed with tyndal limestone. The dominant feature of the interior was a two-story atrium that featured the mosaics for the former exterior walls of the Thompson Building, a life-size skeleton of a Tyrannosaurus rex and geological and biological displays. The $18.5 million Geology Building was completed in 1988 and fused the space between Physics and Biology and linked, through a walkway, with Chemistry, creating an integrated science complex on campus.