The University of New Brunswick started in 1785 with a formal petition to the Crown. From its initial shared schoolhouse accommodations to the opening of its own monumental stone quarters overlooking the town of Fredericton in 1829, UNB enjoyed slow but steady growth in the early 20th century. In the 1950s and 1960s, the Fredericton campus quadrupled in size, often using traditional red-brick Georgian designs, while the new Saint John campus pursued a more modernist direction. The meandering course of UNB's architectural development embodies the hopes, dreams, and occasional disappointments of the University in a way that deserves a long overdue appraisal.

Generously illustrated with current and archival photographs, drawings, and maps, Building a University traces the development of the two UNB campuses. From its tentative wood-frame structures to landmark buildings such as the Richard J. Currie Centre at UNB Fredericton and the University Commons building at UNBSJ, Leroux captures the personalities of UNB's builders and architects and the character and value of their built legacy.

Architect and art historian John Leroux takes a holistic view of his profession, seeing beyond buildings themselves into the cultural, intellectual and physical landscapes to which they contribute. Born in Fredericton, Leroux graduated from the McGill School of Architecture in 1994 and completed a Masters degree in Canadian Art History at Concordia University in 2002. He has worked at several award-winning architecture firms in Toronto, Atlanta and Fredericton, and also teaches at the New Brunswick College of Craft and Design and St. Thomas University. He has won many awards for architectural and public art projects throughout Canada, and has pursued various creative disciplines such as set design for Theatre New Brunswick. A contributing architecture columnist for the Telegraph-Journal and Canadian Architect magazine, he is also the author of three books on New Brunswick architecture: A Fredericton Alphabet, Building Capital: A Guide to Fredericton’s Historic Landmarks, and Building New Brunswick: an architectural history.

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