THE EVOLVING CAMPUS
THE ORIGINAL VISION 1912-1915

The origins of UBC's campus were auspicious enough. After a Canada-wide competition in 1912, the Vancouver architectural firm of Sharp and Thompson (later Thompson, Berwick, Pratt and Partners) was chosen to design the campus, to be located at at Point Grey, immediately west of Vancouver. Their 1914 campus plan (right) guided initial construction, but of its features only the layout of the streets and the design of the oldest buildings would eventually remain as the campus evolved.

UBC's first president, Frank Fairchild Wesbrook, took an active part in planning the campus. Here (left) he is seen meeting with the University Architectural Commission, examining drawings and plans for the new campus.

Construction at Point Grey began in the spring of 1914. Land was cleared of tree-stumps and underbrush, and construction begun on the Science Building. However, the outbreak of the First World War forced the indefinite postponement of all building plans. Only the steel-and-concrete frame of the Science Building was completed (right) - and so it stood for almost ten years.

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