The Rooms

The Rooms is St. John's principal cultural facility, housing the Provincial Museum, the Provincial Art Gallery, and the Provincial Archives under one roof. The building sits on a prominent hilltop above the city centre, visible from much of the harbour, and the floor-to-ceiling windows of the upper gallery give some of the best views of the Narrows and the Atlantic from any indoor space in the city.

The museum collection covers Newfoundland and Labrador from earliest settlement through the period of Confederation with Canada in 1949. The art gallery has a strong collection of work by Newfoundland artists alongside rotating exhibitions. The archives are open by appointment for researchers. Allow at least two hours for the museum and gallery together; the cafe on the top floor is a good lunch option with exceptional views.

things to do museum
A story
The building's design takes its name and inspiration from the "rooms" of the traditional Newfoundland fishing outport — the wooden sheds built on stages over the water where fish were processed. The architects translated this vernacular form into a contemporary structure that looks from certain angles like three stacked outport rooms, but at a civic scale. It was completed in 2005 and quickly became the city's most recognisable modern building.