Canadian Museum of Nature
Encyclopedia : C : CA : CAN : Canadian Museum of Nature
Ottawa, Canada's Canadian Museum of Nature is housed in the Victoria Memorial Museum Building, built in former farm fields in 1905.
This massive stone structure is an excellent example of early 20th century architecture in Ottawa, and was built by architect David Ewart who is responsible for many similar structures around the city. The construction of the building involved the importing of skilled stone masons from Scotland. The architectural style is sometimes described as 'Scottish baronial.'
The design was intended as a sort of 'end piece' to complement the stone structure of the Canadian Parliament Buildings at the opposite end of Metcalfe street, on Parliament Hill. Unfortunately, due to the presence of unstable 'Lida' clay in the geology of the site, a tall tower that was situated at the front of the building had to be taken down in 1915 due to settling and the concern that the foundation could not support the weight.
The building found itself filling a more auspicious role than originally intended when in 1916, fire consumed the majority of the Centre Block on Parliament Hill. The recently completed Victoria Museum Building became the temporary home of the House of Commons, and the affairs of the government were run from the site until the completion of the new Parliament building in 1922.
In 1968, the National Museum that occupied the building was split into the National Museum of Nature (eventually renamed the Canadian Museum of Nature) and the National Museum of Man (eventually renamed the Canadian Museum of Civilization), although both entities continued to share the same edifice. In 1989, the Canadian Museum of Civilization moved to a new location in Gatineau, Quebec, and the Canadian Museum of Nature was able to occupy the entire Victoria Memorial Museum Building.
External links
- *WikiSatellite view at [WikiMapia]
- *Street map from [Mapquest] or [Google Maps]
- *Satellite image from [Google Maps]
- *Topographical map from [Maptech]
From Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia. Original article here. Support Wikipedia by contributing or donating.
All text is available under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License See Wikipedia Copyrights for details.