ERIC PALIN

Eric Palin Hall (EPH)

At the north-east end of the campus stands Eric Palin Hall. It has been described as architecturally unique because the building was constructed 2 floors at a time: floors 1-2 were completed in 1971, 3-4 in 1985 and 5-6 in 2002. Students and faculty might say the building is unique for its strange layout including the large windowless classrooms with connecting doors located right smack in the center of the ground and lower floors.

The original 2-story structure, then called the Technology Annex, housed the Department of Electrical and Electronic Technology, which might explain the ‘unique’ classrooms. The building was renamed in 1979 in honor of Eric Leese Palin, the Department’s founder and long serving director.

During his tenure from 1944 to 1961, Palin saw the institution change from the Toronto Training and Re-establishment Institute for war veterans to the Ryerson Institute of Technology. He is credited with playing an instrumental role in the Institute’s successful development in his capacity as a pioneering instructor and head of Electric and Electronic Technology and Radio and Television Arts, and as executive assistant to the Institute’s founder and first Principal, Howard Kerr. Palin’s contributions also earned him recognition beyond the Institute. In 1961 he was appointed to the Ontario Department of Education at Queen’s Park. For Palin, education was a young man's field and the mastery of technology was to be accompanied by training in the humanities and sciences. His work in continuing education was celebrated during his lifetime with citations from various engineering associations, and a Government of Canada Centennial Medal in 1968.

Like other places on campus where building names have been recycled, ‘Eric Palin Hall’ initially designated an all male student residence on the corner of Gould and Church streets. (That building was also known as Oakham House and Kerr Hall - it’s all very confusing). The name was later transferred to the building at 87 Gerrard Street East following Eric Leese Palin’s death in 1971.

Resource List

Cowan, S. (September, 1968). News. [Newspaper article from Ontario Department
of Education]. Palin (Folder 1). Toronto Metropolitan University, Archives & Special
Collections, Toronto, ON.

Dang, T. K. (2021). Decolonizing landscape. Landscape Research, 46(7), 1004–1016.
https://doi.org/10.1080/01426397.2021.1935820

Forum. (1977, February 11). No Title. [Newspaper snippet from Forum]. Palin (Folder 1).
Toronto Metropolitan University, Archives & Special Collections, Toronto, ON.

Harper, T. (1977, January 19). Palin Memorial Windows Installed. [Newspaper article from the
Ryersonian]. Palin (Folder 1). Toronto Metropolitan University, Archives & Special
Collections, Toronto, ON.

IEEE: Canadian Regions. (1985). Electricity: The Magic Medium. (Toronto, ON). Institute of
Electrical & Electronics Engineers, INC.

Ryersonian. (1971 January 14). Eric L. Palin. [Newspaper article from Ryersonian] Palin (Folder 1).
Toronto Metropolitan University, Archives & Special Collections, Toronto, ON.

Ryersonian. (1971 February). Eric L. Palin. [Newspaper article from Ryersonian] Palin (Folder 1).
Toronto Metropolitan University, Archives & Special Collections, Toronto, ON.

School of Graphic Arts. (1949, November 1). CJRT Hits Air Waves Today. [ Article from The
Little Daily]. Palin (Folder 1). Toronto Metropolitan University, Archives & Special Collections,
Toronto, ON.