UBC Reports | Vol. 51 | No. 4 | Apr. 7, 2005

Timepiece 1947

Brock Hall, Then & Now

By Chris Hives, University Archives

On March 21, UBC opened the newly renovated Welcome Centre at Brock Hall, an important part of UBC’s student community throughout the years.

With its completion in 1940, Brock Memorial Hall became one of the three campus structures for which the students provided funding. The others were the original gymnasium (1929) and the stadium (1937). Fundraising began in 1936 for the original student union building named as a memorial to Dean and Mrs. R.W. Brock.

The burden of financing the stadium proved too much for the students and it was two years before they again turned their attention to raising funds for the new student union building. The campaign resumed in 1938 and a generous grant from the Board of Governors allowed construction to proceed on a site near the Gymnasium and the Library on East Mall. At the opening of Brock Hall in January 1940, President Leonard Klinck commended the students for their effort, observing that "this building is sufficient proof that the spirit of adventure, enterprise and creative initiative is not lacking among the undergraduate body of the University."