Completed in 1938, the Craine Building adjoins Humphrey Hall on the north side and was the first of many at Queen's to be constructed with a facing of buff-coloured Queenston limestone instead of the usual grey Kingston limestone.
It was the only major construction effort undertaken by Queen's during the Depression and was made possible by a gift from Agnes Douglas Craine, who graduated in 1888 from the Queen's-affiliated women's medical college.
Agnes named the building in honour of her parents, John Joseph and Agnes Muir Craine, and her brother John Craine.
She endowed the building specifically for teaching and research in biochemistry; it was used for that purpose until the 1970s.