Lady Dunn Hall

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Building Name: Lady Dunn Hall

Lady Dunn Hall front entrance (now Joy Kidd House), [after 1963]. PR; Series 1; Sub-series 6; Item 7262.

Other Names: Lady Dunn, DKT (Dunn-Kidd-Tibbits)

Civic Address: 40 Mackay Dr.

Sod Turning: 17 May 1961 by Annie Tibbits Chestnut

Cornerstone Laying: 4 October 1962 by UNB President Colin B. Mackay

Opened for Use: 1963

Official Opening: January 1963; 25 October 1998 (re dedicated).

Architect: Larson and Larson

Named for: Lady Dunn (née Marcia Anastasia Christoforides), wife of Sir James Dunn and second wife of Lord Beaverbrook; philanthropist and benefactor to UNB.

Renovations/changes/additions: A four storey extension was added to the Hall in 1969, providing residence for 200 more students. Lady Dunn Hall was moved to its current location in 1998 when the female residences were reconfigured and the front of the existing building was transformed into Joy W. Kidd House, with the remaining space divided into two smaller halls for women students, Tibbits Hall and Lady Dunn Hall.

Plaque Inscription (1998): Lady Dunn Hall Named in honour of Lady Dunn, nee Marcia Anastasia Christoforides (1910-1994), wife of industrialist Sir James Dunn and, after his death, Lord Beaverbrook. She was a philanthropist and generous benefactor to our University. Opened in 1963 as the first on-campus accommodation for women, Lady Dunn Hall moved from its original site (now Joy W. Kidd House) to this location in 1998 when the entire complex was reconfigured to better meet student residents' needs.

Notes: The first all-female residence on campus; the cornerstone of Lady Dunn Hall was originally intended to be officiated by Lord Beaverbrook, but upon his illness on the day of the ceremony, Colin B. Mackay performed the ceremony. Lady Dunn Hall was also originally intended to be named for Mary K. Tibbits, UNB's first woman graduate, but at the last minute Lord Beaverbrook instructed UNB president Colin B. Mackay to name it for Lady Dunn.

Source(s):

  • Leroux, John. Building A University: The Architecture of UNB. Fredericton: Goose Lane Editions, 2010, p. 83.
  • UA Case 122.
  • UNB Scrapbooks (UA RG 100), July - September 1969.
  • UNB Scrapbooks (UA RG 100), July - December 1962.
  • Plaque inscription: University of New Brunswick Public Relations Department Photograph Collection; Series 2; Sub-series 4; File 765; Item 37.


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