McCord Stewart Museum

The McCord Stewart Museum is where Montreal tells its own story, and it is the best single place to understand the people who built the city rather than its monuments. It stands on Sherbrooke Street opposite the McGill University campus and grew from the collection of David Ross McCord, a lawyer and collector who gave his holdings to McGill in the early twentieth century; it later merged with the Stewart Museum, which held military and colonial history collections from the old fort on Ile Sainte-Helene, and took its current name. The collections are large and varied: one of the most important costume and fashion collections in Canada, the Notman Photographic Archives with hundreds of thousands of images of nineteenth- and twentieth-century Montreal, decorative arts, documents, and an extensive collection of Indigenous material culture presented in a long-running permanent exhibition developed with Indigenous communities. Temporary exhibitions rotate several times a year; for winter 2026 the museum installs the beloved animated Christmas window displays from the old Ogilvy department store (6 November 2026 to 10 January 2027), and a new textile exhibition, Sovereign Stitches and Wild Weaves, opens on 26 November 2026 and runs to September 2027. The museum is closed on Mondays, open until 9 p.m. on Wednesdays with free general admission from 5 p.m. (a small fee applies to major exhibitions), and free at all times for visitors 17 and under. The ground floor is being renovated, so some services may be temporarily relocated.

Why go: many visitors see Montreal through its churches and old streets, but the McCord Stewart fills in the human detail, from the clothes Montrealers wore through each era to the photographs that show the port, the snow, the streets and the faces of a growing city. The Notman studio photographed everyone from railway barons to winter carnival skaters, and selections from the archive appear regularly in exhibitions. The fashion holdings, ranging from haute couture to everyday dress, are a particular strength, and the textile and costume shows are often the museum's most popular. The Indigenous galleries focus on living cultures and contemporary voices rather than only historical artifacts.

How to visit well: allow ninety minutes to two hours. Wednesday evening is the best value, with free general admission after 5 p.m., but it is also the busiest time; weekday mornings are calmer. Families should note that admission is free for everyone 17 and under, and the Ogilvy Christmas windows, with their moving animal figures, are a much-loved holiday ritual for Montreal children. The first Sunday of each month runs on a pay-what-you-can basis. Combine the visit with a walk through the McGill campus at the foot of Mount Royal, or with the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts, a ten-minute walk west along Sherbrooke.

Practicals: the museum is at 690 Sherbrooke Street West, a few minutes on foot from McGill metro station on the green line and connected to the downtown core. It is a good choice in any weather. Note that the cafe has been under redesign and the ground floor is being renovated for better accessibility, so check the website for current services. The museum has also announced plans for a new downtown home in the coming years, but the Sherbrooke Street building remains open in the meantime.