Centre Canadien d’Architecture
VISITORS ENTER through an unobtrusive glass door in an almost windowless façade of gray limestone that fronts this large U-shaped building. Well-lit exhibition rooms house a series of regular exhibits in rotation.
The three primary exhibits focus on architecture, design and landscape architecture. The two arms of the modern building embrace the ornate, grand Shaughnessy Mansion, which faces Boulevard René-Lévesque Ouest. Now part of the Centre, the house was built in 1874 for the president of the Canadian Pacific Railway, Sir Thomas Shaughnessy, and has an artnouveau conservatory with an intricately decorated ceiling.
The Centre is also a major scholarly institution. Its collection of architectural plans, drawings, models, and photographs is the most important of its kind anywhere. The library alone has over 165,000 volumes on the world’s most significant buildings.