Description of Historic Place

Miramichi Natural History Museum is located on 149 Wellington Street in the City of Miramichi. It is situated on a municipal corner lot 30' by 50' in size. The building footprint covers the whole property. This plain, utilitarian structure, built in 1908-1909, houses many artefacts and historical documents relating to the Miramichi area and abroad.

Heritage Value

Miramichi Natural History Museum is designated as a Local Historic Place because it is an expression for being the oldest museum of its kind in New Brunswick and the third oldest in Canada.

The heritage value of this building resides in its construction for the purpose of preserving artefacts and information pertaining to local history. Leased to the Miramichi Natural History Association, the building also serves as a meeting place for the association. Dr. James M. Baxter and Phillip Cox co-founded the association in 1897. They are recognized for acquiring much of the inventory including the Dr. Henri Marc Ami Collection.

Source: City of Miramichi, Heritage Office Site File# 04-19.

Character-Defining Elements

The character-defining elements relating to the architecture of this period exhibited on the Miramichi Natural History Museum include:
- placement of the building relative to the street being flush to the sidewalk on southerly front and western sidelines;
- massing and form of rectangular utilitarian design with Greek revival elements present;
- hipped gable roof containing attic gable windows at each end;
- clapboard siding and evenly spaced windows on the front and west sidelines;
- replaced windows and double doors on front not integral to buildings design;
- absence of windows on eastern sideline;
- recessed doorway flanked by six paneled sidewalls;
- plain pediment with decorative brackets above doorway;
- wide cornice moulding and narrow corner boards;
- concrete block foundation wall on western sideline is weak and buckling.

The character-defining elements relating to the Miramichi Natural History Museum as a museum include:
- local history artefacts, including the Dr. Henri Marc Ami Collection.