Hôpital Notre-Dame is a general hospital in Montreal, Quebec, established in 1880 and located on Sherbrooke Street East since 1924. It is part of the Centre hospitalier de l’Université de Montréal (CHUM).[1][2]
Design and History
The hospital’s visual identity was created by Quebec graphic designer Georges Huel (1930-2002), who is best known for his work on Expo 67, the 1976 Montreal Olympics, and the identity of the City of Montreal.[3][4] The McCord Stewart Museum, which holds Huel’s archival fonds, lists Notre-Dame Hospital among his client work, dated to 1971.[3]
Huel’s mark for the hospital features a cross, a symbol consistent with the institution’s name and its Catholic heritage. The design is a monogram-style emblem that integrates the cross with the hospital’s initials.[5] The logo dates from the early 1970s, a period when Huel was also designing identities for the City of Laval transit commission (1971) and other Quebec institutions.[3]
Today, Hôpital Notre-Dame operates under the broader CHUM network, and its current signage and communications reflect that affiliation rather than the standalone 1971 mark.[1]
Meaning and Symbolism
The cross in Huel’s design is the primary symbolic element. It references the hospital’s name, Notre-Dame (Our Lady), and its foundation as a francophone Catholic institution, though it was secular from the beginning, administered by physicians rather than priests.[1][6] The monogram format combines this religious reference with the hospital’s initials in a single compact device.[5]
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