Holly Stewart

Eccentric architect Percy Nobbs, who taught at McGill in the early 20th century, designed the Pathology Institute on the corner of Pine Avenue and University street. At the age of 28 he arrived at McGill with an ambitious plan to redesign the university’s buildings. He was equally well known for his 1908 Olympic silver medal in fencing.

The buildings he designed at McGill have details that are easily missed. On top of the tower just behind the bus stop on Pine Avenue is a staff with a snake winding around it. Known as the Rod of Asclepius, in Greek mythology it was carried by the healer Asclepius and now represents many medical institutions. It’s sometimes confused with the rod featuring two snakes twined around it and wings at the top: the caduceus. Nobbs was perhaps thinking of Canadian history when he designed what is now called the Duff Medical Building in 1921. The American Army Medical Corps had adopted the caduceus as their symbol only a few decades earlier, but the Canadian Forces Medical Service wore the single-snake Rod of Asclepius on their uniforms.