Montreal to Welcome New Downtown Museum

The McCord Stewart Museum is proud to announce that its planned new museum will be located in the heart of downtown Montreal. The new establishment will expand the McCord Museum’s current site by building on Victoria Street, which runs along the west side of the Museum, and the lot housing 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 and create an institution that will leave its mark on Montreal’s urban and cultural landscape.

A Pressing Need for Space

For many years, the McCord Stewart Museum has been dealing with space issues that significantly affect its potential for growth and development, issues that have become even more pronounced since the 2017 merger with the Fashion Museum.

For example, the limited size and number of its exhibition halls means the Museum is unable to display more than 1% of its collection. The lack of space is also felt in the storage areas, conservation facilities and crowded learning spaces, which limit the number of school groups that can be accommodated, despite growing demand.

The new building will house three recently merged museums—the McCord Museum, the Stewart Museum and the Fashion Museum—under a single roof. This legacy project will create a world-class institution for generations of Montrealers.

• 3 museums under one roof, home to over 1,500,000 million artefacts
• 2 times more space
• 3 times more surface area dedicated to exhibitions
• 3 times more students welcomed each year
• 1 major ten-storey architectural landmark
• 600,000 visitors each year

New Museum to Receive Historic Donation

The McCord Stewart Museum also announced that La Fondation Emmanuelle Gattuso had pledged to donate the extraordinary sum of $15 million towards the 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.

A Strategic Location in the Heart of Montreal

A symbol of local pride and a major tourist attraction, the new museum will be situated in the heart of the city that it will celebrate.

In the centre of the Golden Square Mile, halfway between the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts and the Musée d’art contemporain, near the downtown universities, the McGill metro station, the upcoming electric train (REM) station and future Place McGill College, the site chosen meets the Museum’s desire for accessibility and openness.

“The” Museum of Montreal Social History

Founded with one of the largest historical collections in North America—over 1.5 million artefacts documenting the social history of Montreal from pre-colonial times to today—the new museum will be a participatory museum that reflects the cultural diversity, creativity and dynamism of Quebec’s largest city: a museum that is open, welcoming and inclusive, just like Montreal.

• It will present Montreal’s contributions to the development of Quebec and Canada, highlighting the achievements, both past and present, of the city, its people and its communities.
• It will also be a forum for interaction and debate on major social and urban issues, community diversity, and various achievements that have shaped our history.
• It will be an essential reference on the Montreal of yesterday, today and tomorrow.
• It will help enhance Montreal’s reputation as a world-class city.