Saskatchewan Hall (Saskatoon)

 university, dormitory

“Saskatchewan Hall has played an important part in the life of the students. It has been, perhaps, the most effective factor in forming student opinion.”
- Walter Murray, Annual Report 1915-1916

“A Residence Building to cost not more than $100,000" was among the first three buildings authorized by the Board of Governors in June, 1909. The University had made a decision to have a residence rather than fraternity system for their student housing, believing residences were more democratic; a decision which also influenced the overall campus plan.

Designed by Brown and Vallance and built roughly in the shape of a capital “F,” with a dining hall and kitchen, was intended to “hold comfortably about one hundred and fifty.” In his first report, Murray noted that one wing of the building, with room for 30 people, “will be shut off from the main building and devoted to the use of the women students until their numbers force the building of a separate residence.” The dining room remained a common facility even following the construction of a second residence, Qu’Appelle Hall, and together with facilities in the Memorial Union Building, remained the main dining area for students until the construction of Marquis Hall in 1964.

Initially referred to by Walter Murray as “University Hall,” in November 1915 the Board assigned its Executive Committee authority to name campus buildings, but suggested “that the name Saskatchewan Hall be an appropriate one for the first Students’ Residence.”

The building was completed in 1912 for $230,000 -- over double the original estimates.