queen elizabeth II planetarium
david murray
space, wonder and the 1960s Canada’s first planetarium opened in Edmonton in 1960; the site was dedicated by Queen Elizabeth ll during her 1959 official visit to Canada; the Planetarium was named after her and located in Coronation Park, which honours the Queen’s 1953 coronation. The building is remarkably quirky and unique in the history of modern architecture in Canada. It served its original purpose, providing entertaining and educational astronomical and night sky presentations, for 24 years until 1984 when it was replaced with a larger nearby planetarium. Now, the original 1960 planetarium is being conserved and restored, and will reopen in 2020, again to introduce young people to the wonders of space. The Queen Elizabeth II Planetarium is a remarkable artefact of the development of Canada in the 1950s. I was 14 and living in another part of the country when the planetarium opened but my architectural practice led me to Edmonton in 1969. I grew roots here and take great delight in my career as a conservation architect. The preservation and re-use of the planetarium is my most recent conservation project. Every building has a story, and the story of the Queen Elizabeth II Planetarium is especially dense, rich in human and cultural history. The building was conceived in a time of political uncertainty with the Cold War raging around us; it was also time of great optimism for the future. If a building can be a symbol of the best of human intentions, the planetarium is certainly one of them. This is the story.
Royal Astronomical Society of Canada
The Queen Elizabeth II Planetarium circa 1965
In 1958 a proposal was put before Edmonton City Council to build a permanent civic memorial to mark the July 1959 visit of Her Royal Highness Queen Elizabeth II and HRH Prince Philip. The Royal Astronomical Society of Canada (RASC), Edmonton Centre, established in 1932, recommended that a planetarium be constructed, even though its youthful members had never visited one before. Their enthusiastic proposal was submitted to City Council despite little knowledge of the operation of a planetarium. There was no experience to back up the proposal and no photos accompanied the application. Nonetheless, City Council approved the project in March,1959 and the planetarium opened the following year in September. Ian McLennan, the first director, reports that in historical hindsight this lack of experience was in fact a great asset. It allowed the Queen Elizabeth II Planetarium to develop and follow its own unprecedented course. Edmonton’s planetarium, although small, became one of the most respected and innovative public planetariums of its time in North America. 1 Ian McLennan, a member of the RASC, was only 22 years old when he was offered the directorship just a month before the building was completed and the Spitz projector installed. He used the month to plan the programming and presentation for the opening. His appointment proved to be fortuitous as he was free to use his
imagination to invent the operations at this new facility, marking its departure, as he reports, from the dry operations of previous planetariums. His experience working at a local radio and TV station provided insights into how to make the planetarium an engaging and innovative experience for the general public. Throughout the 1960s the Queen Elizabeth II Planetarium’s reputation was significant. Despite its small size, it was used for both education and entertainment, holding public shows on topical astronomical subjects; at the centre of its display area was a meteorite found in Bruderheim, Alberta in March, 1960. Presentations complimented school curricula from kindergarten to grade 12. Between 1960 and 1980, the planetarium had more than a million visitors. 2
The first public planetarium opened in 1924 at the Deutsches Museum in Munich, showcasing the skillful optic technologies of the Zeiss Corporation. The Deutsches Museum did not anticipate the public interest in the planetarium. Before World War II suspended planetarium work, planetariums were built in in Berlin and Düsseldorf, Rome and Paris, Chicago, Los Angeles and New York.
Royal Astronomical Society of Canada
1 Interview with Ian McLennan 18 April 2016 2 Extracted from The Heritage Officer’s Summary for the Edmonton Inventory of Historic Resources
Director Ian McLennan with school children examining the Spitz projector.
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on site review 36: our material future
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