Decorative Paintings Leading to Currie Hall
Article by: 5256 Gwyn Griffith
Anyone who hasn’t visited the stairways and hallways leading to Currie Hall lately is in for a treat. When the Currie Building was initially designed following the Great War, decorative paint schemes were prepared for the areas leading to the Hall. Primarily due to a lack of funding, these were never partially implemented until recently.
The first phase involved painting the Canadian Coat of Arms on the back of the stairway immediately outside the entrance to the Hall, photo attached. The second phase involved painting the twenty shields that were cast into the walls and pillars during construction. The twenty shields include one for each of the ten provinces and three territories, the three military services and the four Canadian military colleges, the fourth one being the Royal Canadian Naval College. I have included photographs of the Canadian Coat of Arms and of three of the twenty shields that best display the incredible detail that the Conservator included in his paintings.
The third phase of the painting project included highlighting the architectural features around the inserts and doorways in the immediate are. I have included a photograph of the bust of 749 Gen Crerar, Commander of the Canadian Army during WWII, which best shows some of the highlighting. The Conservator who completed the paintings did a great deal of research on the history of Currie Hall and environs prior to submitting his proposal for approval.
Phase One was funded by the RMC Foundation. Phases Two and Three were funded by the Class of 61. We are grateful to both for their contributions and support.
For those interested continue here for history and background:
