McCord Museum Reinvented

New Montreal Museum

April 30, 2019

McCord Museum, located in the heart of Montreal, announced major re-structuring and construction of new museum extensions on its present site. While preserving its Sherbrooke and Victoria Streets façades, it will expand upwards from the present historical McCord Museum building. It will also overflow into the adjacent Victoria Street that runs along the west side of the museum, as well as southwards into the lot that houses the former Caveau restaurant on President Kennedy Avenue. The combined area of these sites will enable the museum to meet its needs for additional space.

Working closely with the City of Montreal that granted the right to build on Victoria Street, the Museum selected the site after conducting a feasibility study. The new building will house under the same roof three recently merged museums: McCord Museum, Stewart Museum and Fashion Museum. Instead of the present 1%, this will allow to display 4-5% of items from the combined permanent collection consisting of 1.4 million artifacts. In addition, the Museum wishes to change its name. The preliminary name proposed is Montréalais.

The new museum will triple the space and will double the number of visitors per year from the current 300,000 to 600,000. It will also triple its educational space and will allow for a far greater number of school group visits, as presently McCord Museum is unable to satisfy all school trip requests.

The project is expected to cost $180 million. It is projected that 1/3 of the cost will be covered by the Federal Government, 1/3 by the Provincial Government, and the remaining 1/3 by private donations.

New museum to receive historic donation

The McCord Stewart Museum also announced that La Fondation Emmanuelle Gattuso had pledged to donate $15 million towards this project. It is the largest single private monetary donation to a Quebec museum in over 30 years. In 1987, the J.W. McConnell Foundation donated $50 million to the McCord Museum for its expansion and the creation of an endowment to preserve its collection.

Madam Emmanuelle Gattuso, Vice President, Public Affairs of Gattuso Inc. food company founded by her parents, stated:

"Although I have lived in Toronto for many years, I am still a Montrealer at heart. This donation is in memory of my parents, Lina and Pasquale Gattuso, Montrealers of Italian origin who chose this city to raise their family and start a food business that still bears their name and has thrived across the country since 1936. It is my hope that this new museum will break ground very soon and that my donation will encourage the various levels of government, Montrealers and ex-Montrealers to mobilize for this magnificent project that will enrich Montreal’s cultural life."

All pictures of the new museum in this article are only preliminary concepts. McCord Museum will be launching soon an architectural competition for the best new museum design.

McCord museum will be closed during the construction works. Visit the museum now to be able to compare it later to the all new museum.

Click on images to enlarge them.

All photos by DMA, courtesy @ McCord Museum

For more information on current exhibitions, visit the McCord Museum website.