Snell, Henry Saxon

SNELL, Henry Saxon (1830-1904) was considered the foremost expert in hospital architecture in England in the nineteenth century, and dozens of institutional buildings throughout England can be credited to him. In Canada his name is associated with Royal Victoria Hospital, Pine Avenue at University Street, MONTREAL, QUE., begun in 1890 and opened in 1893 (Montreal Daily Star, 29 May 1888, 2; and 25 March 1889, 4, detailed descrip.; and 23 April 1889, 4, descrip. and interview with the architect; and 5 Dec. 1893, 2, detailed architectural descrip.; Gazette [Montreal], 26 March 1889, 5, descrip.; and 28 June 1890, 3, descrip.; and 12 Nov. 1891, 2, descrip.; and 2 Dec. 1893, 11, illus. & descrip.; C.A.B., iii, Dec. 1890, plate illus.; Architecture & Building [New York], xviii, 27 May 1893, 247 with plate illus.; Builder [London], lxv, 1 July 1893, 18-19, illus. & descrip.; Annmarie Adams, Medicine by Design: The Architect and the Modern Hospital 1893-1943, 2008, 8-31, illus. & descrip.).

For the design of his only work in this country, Snell employed a mannered interpretation of the Scottish Baronial style for this extensive complex that was closely related in plan and arrangement of buildings designed by David Bryce for the Royal Victoria Hospital in Edinburgh in 1870. Several modifications were necessary to the scheme, however, in order to adapt it to the site and to the rigors of the Canadian climate; Snell was quoted at length on the method he used to address these problems in an article in The Gazette [Montreal], 25 April 1889, p. 7. He wrote two influential books on the subject of institutional architecture, one entitled Charitable and Parochial Establishments (1881) with many designs in a high Victorian style, and with Frederick he co-authored Hospital Construction and Management (1883) on the arrangement, management and construction of hospitals. During his later career Snell collaborated with his two sons Harry and Alfred W., but their partnership was dissolved in 1891 and Snell Sr. remained in private practice until his retirement in 1896. He died in London on 10 January 1904 (obit. and list of works Builder [London], lxxxvi, 16 Jan. 1904, 64; R.I.B.A. Journal [London], xi, 23 Jan. 1904, 160; R.I.B.A., Directory of British Architects 1834-1914, 2001, ii, 660).