The Rooms

The Rooms, opened in 2005 in St. John’s, serves as Newfoundland and Labrador’s main cultural facility, uniting the provincial art gallery, archives, and museum in one building. Its design recalls the gable-roofed fishing rooms of Newfoundland outports, while its site preserves a deeper history as the former location of Fort Townshend, a major 18th-century British fortification later used by the Royal Newfoundland Constabulary and St. John’s Fire Department. Despite controversy over building on this National Historic Site, research and documentation were completed, and a commemorative outline of the old fort was added. Today, it is a leading centre for the province’s records, art, history, and public memory.

Newfoundland and Labrador · Canada