Queen's Theological College - Features and Facilities

Features and Facilities

Although officially a separate institution, Queen’s School of Religion is the only affiliated college of Queen’s University at Kingston, and is located in one of the oldest and historic university buildings, Theological Hall, in the heart of the Queen’s campus.

Theological Hall itself was built in 1879, and designed by Gordon & Helliwell. Funded completely by donations from the citizens of Kingston, the cornerstone of Theological Hall was laid in 1879 by the Marquis of Lorne, Governor-General of Canada, and his wife, Princess Louise, the fourth daughter of Queen Victoria, and the building was completed in October 1880. The third-oldest building on the Queen’s University campus, the massive limestone structure was built in Norman Romanesque style, featuring its trademark double-oak front doorway and central tower flying the Canadian flag. Originally built to house the Faculty of Arts and Science (and to this day is often referred to as the Old Arts and Science Building), Theological Hall was the university’s main building throughout the late 19th century. The building features an ornate mediaeval-style Convocation Hall that served the university for convocation ceremonies until Grant Hall was built (between 1902-05), and at one time a circular library at the west end of the building. Morgan Memorial Chapel, with its old-world vaulted ceilings and ecclesiastical stained-glass windows depicting scenes from the Hebrew Scriptures and the New Testament, was named in honour of the late professor of Theology, William Morgan, and serves the entire university community.

The interior of Convocation Hall is a mix of Romanesque and Gothic with an open, cathedral-like space featuring king-post hammer beam truss enlivened with embellished pendants and articulated bossed junctions, and a combination of red brick and buff brick incorporated into a decorative pattern. The side walls feature a series of round arched windows and the centre of the north wall features a rose window set in a Romanesque niche, which unfortunately was concealed from the interior by renovations carried out in the mid-1960’s.

Classroom and office space in Theological Hall was provided for the newly-created Queen’s Theological College under the provisions of an Act of Parliament respecting Queen’s College at Kingston passed on April 1, 1912. From 1912-1925, Queen’s Theological College prepared students for ordered ministry in the Presbyterian Church of Canada, but the College was transformed from a Presbyterian institution into a United Church of Canada theological institution serving Canada’s new national church created by the union of the Methodist, Congregational, and Presbyterian denominations in Canada in 1925.

Theological Hall underwent major internal renovations between 1966-67, which resulted in the creation of additional office space and the installation of an elevator, and today houses both Queen’s School of Religion and Queen’s University’s Faculty of Arts and Science Department of Drama and the Department of Religious Studies.