1894
The Erskine Church, built by Montreal architect Alexander Cooper
Hutchison in a Romanesque Revival style, is inaugurated.

1934
Two Presbyterian congregations merge; the church adopts the name
Erskine and American.

1937-1938
An interior remodelling programme in the Arts and Crafts style is carried
out by Montreal architects Percy E. Nobbs and George T. Hyde. Twenty
Tiffany windows, created by Louis C. Tiffany's famous New York studios
for the American Presbyterian Church (today demolished), are installed
around the church's nave.

1998
The Church is designated a “national historic site”; by the Historic Sites and
Monuments Board of Canada.

2004
The church closes and is deconsecrated.

2008
The church is acquired by the Museum.

January 2009
Construction begins.

September 2011
Inauguration of the new Claire and Marc Bourgie Pavilion
and the Bourgie Concert Hall.

Some numbers

• Total cost for the project: $42.4 million, including $34.1 million
  for the construction($588/square foot, an exceptionally low cost
  for such a project) with $19.4 million in financing from
  the Quebec government and $13.5 million from the Canadian
  government, supplemented by private donors ($1.3 million).

• Contributions from the private sector (individuals and corporations):
  $30.5 million, including $8.3 million for other related costs
  (purchase of the church, restoration of the stained glass windows,
  acquisition of the equipment for the pavilion and concert hall) and
  $20.9 million for the establishment of a self-financing fund to
  cover annual operating costs and musical programming.
  The contribution from the private sector represents 48% of the project's
  total production and operating costs.

• Total surface of the Museum: 50,125 square metres, distributed over
  four pavilions (Michal and Renata Hornstein, Liliane and David M. Stewart,
  Jean- Noël Desmarais, Claire and Marc Bourgie), including
  10,920 square metres of gallery space.

• Surface of construction: 5,460 square metres, including more than
  2,000 square metres dedicated to exhibiting Quebec and
  Canadian artworks, increasing the space allocated to works from
  our heritage by 50% and the total gallery space by 20%.

• There are 444 seats in the Bourgie Concert Hall

• There are 600 works presented over six levels.

• 12,610 hours have been spent restoring works of Quebec and Canadian art.

• There are 146 reinstalled stained glass windows, including 81 that have
  been restored.

• Half a million dollars and 5,000 hours have been spent restoring the
  heritage Tiffany stained glass windows.

• 450 professionals worked on the construction site.