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THE DESIGN OF THE PETER REDPATH MUSEUM AT McGILL UNWERSITY: The Genesis, Expression, and Evolution of an Idea About Natural History BY SUSAN BRONSON Figure 1. The Peter Redpath Museum (1880..1882) at McGill University: the first Canadian building designed specifically to house a museum of natural history. (Journal of the Royal Architectural Institute of Canada 2, no. 3 (March 1925)) 60 SSAC BUllETIN SEAC 17:3
A S THE FIRST CANADIAN BUILDING DESIGNED SPECIFICALLY TO HOUSE A MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY, the Peter Redpath Museum in Montreal ( 1880-1882) (figure 1) possesses architectural, scientific, and museological significance. 1 Its original design 2 constituted a masterful expression of the museum idea of its founder, John William Dawson (1820-1899): his vision of the meaning of natural history and the role that McGill's museum should play in the preservation, presentation, and propagation of its knowledge. 3 The account of the genesis, expression, and evolution of this museum idea- a story which spans more than two centuries of changing ideas about science, architecture, and museology- can enrich our understanding of the importance of the Peter Redpath Museum today. It also demonstrates that a full appreciation of the museum's design history, so critical in the establishment of an appropriate philosophy to guide its future, implies looking beyond the original formal features of its building and understanding the broader cultural context that first inspired, then shaped, and finally altered its architecture and arrangement. 17:3 SSAC BULLETIN SEAC 61
Page 1 and 2: SOCIETY FOR THE STUDY OF ARCHITECTU
Page 3: A Note from the Editor Note du reda
Page 7 and 8: (1728-1792) during the 1770s, and e
Page 9 and 10: Washington (1881). These new museum
Page 11 and 12: The architects of McGill's Museum T
Page 13 and 14: The museum's symmetrical, self-cont
Page 15 and 16: campus for more than a century. Its
Page 17 and 18: Figure 32 (above). During the 1940s
Page 19 and 20: Endnotes More detail on all aspects
Page 25 and 26: Monuments to Faith: Ukrainian Churc
Page 27 and 28: SURVEY RESULTS • RESULTATS DU SON

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