In 1930 the western boundary of the University of Toronto campus was formed by St George Street. To establish a consistent style and character to the public face of the institution, the administration mandated that all new buildings along College Street and St George Street should be “Georgian in character.” When the commission for Whitney Hall, the new residence for women students of University College, was awarded to Mathers and Haldenby, the firm responded with an appropriately conservative plan and an impeccably detailed elevation (R.A.I.C. Journal, ix, May 1932, 114-20, illus.). The same architects would continue this tradition nearly 25 years later with their design for the Sir Daniel Wilson Residence (1953–54).

Whitney Hall is comprised of three “houses” each accommodating 50 women in single and double rooms. The first three units, Cody House, Falconer House, and Mulock House, were completed in 1931 but the fourth unit, Ferguson House, which replicated the style of the original neo-Georgian scheme, was not built until 1960 and added to the sense of enclosure of the quadrangle. A unique aspect of the plan is the inverted nature of pedestrian access – entrances to the various houses were located within the courtyard, rather than on the street side, and special “night doors” leading to the basement of each house were provided for students returning late at night, but only after they had obtained special permission from the House Don!

The residence honours the name of lumber baron Edward C. Whitney, brother of Ontario Premier Sir James P. Whitney, and was built with a bequest from his estate. All the furnishings were purchased using funds raised by the graduate and undergraduate women students of University College.

Robert G. Hill