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Text: VMMB. Collage: View of the Victoria Memorial Museum Building, detail of a stained-glass window.

Victoria Memorial Museum Building

The distinctive Victoria Memorial Museum Building (VMMB) has been the home of the Canadian Museum of Nature (formerly the National Museum of Natural Sciences) since 1912. Over the many years since its construction, the VMMB has become a national monument and landmark in Ottawa, the nation's capital. Nature's Natural Heritage Building in Gatineau, Quebec, is the site of our administrative, research and collections operations.

Heritage in Stone

Most of Nature's exhibitions and programmes are housed or take place in the Victoria Memorial Museum Building. This fine example of early 20th century architecture, the "castle" (as it is affectionately known) has a long and lively history. In 1905, in a field in the south of Ottawa, work began on a massive new building formed out of local sandstone. The chief architect and designer David Ewart created a fanciful castle-like building that has been described as "Scottish baronial" in design. The building was intended to mirror the Centre Block of Canada's Parliament Buildings, due north of the VMMB's building site. Both buildings share similar stonework on the facade and, at one time, shared a similar tower. Unfortunately, in 1915, the top of the VMMB's tower was removed because the foundation could not sustain the tower's weight.

Famous Tenants

Over the decades, the Museum has shared the VMMB with a number of notable tenants. In 1916, the building became the emergency headquarters for the Canadian government after the fire at the Parliament Buildings. The House of Commons sat in the auditorium for four years, while the Senate occupied the former first-floor mineral gallery (once the the Hall of Invertebrate Fossils). When the former Prime Minister Sir Wilfrid Laurier died, his body lay in state in the Museum's auditorium.

Detail of a stained-glass window. It wasn't until 1988 that the castle became the exclusive home of the Canadian Museum of Nature. This historic site is now undergoing its most comprehensive renovation. The first phase was completed in October 2006 upon the opening of new galleries in the west wing. The project will be fully completed by 2010.