$6M Beaverbrook Art Gallery expansion will 'dramatically' change downtown landscape

The Beaverbrook Art Gallery is building a $6-million expansion that will push the gallery closer to Queen Street and give it a new entrance.

The new wing is dedicated to the late Harrison McCain, theFlorenceville-Bristol businessman and co-founder of McCain Foods.

James C. Irving, chair of the gallery'sboard of governors, announced the project Friday morning on the steps of the gallery, apparently in the spot where Lord Beaverbrook stood 60 years ago when the gallery opened.

Although conceptual drawings for the addition haven't even been done yet, the gallery said in a news release that construction will begin thisfall and continue into 2020.

Gallery opened in 1959

"We hope to get the shovel in the ground before the snow flies," Irving said.

The new addition is expected to be around 10,000 square feet.

The gallery, which just opened a $30 million expansion two years ago, has hired architect Shirley Blumberg, founding partner of KPMB Architects in Toronto, to design the next one.

At Friday's news conference, Blumberg said she was last in Fredericton 10 years ago and was struck by the city's beauty. She said she washonoured the gallery selected KPMB Architects to complete the final phase of its expansion.

• Beaverbrook Art Gallery collection high and dry, safe from floodwaters

"We hope that the new addition will be a catalyst for even more robust engagement with the community," she said.

TheBeaverbrook'sreconstruction campaign, which began 10 years ago,has received more than $33 million in donations for building expansion and programs.

FrederictonMP MattDeCourceysaid the latest project would get $1 million from the Department of Canadian Heritage and $500,000 from the Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency.Federal infrastructure money will also be available, he said.

Irving thanked theMcCainfamily for its support of the project. He said the family was looking for a way to recognize the legacy of HarrisonMcCain, who died in 2004.

"Harrison, as I understand it, was very private didn't want a lot of flash, and kept a very low profile, but was very generous," Irving said.