U of T’s Eric Arthur Gallery: 125th Anniversary Exhibition

As an Arts & Science student, I find myself restricted to the areas on campus reserved for classes and events specific to my faculty. I’ve made it a point to try and branch out by exploring the things other faculties have to offer. This includes visiting the Eric Arthur Gallery within what I’ve always assumed to be this totally nondescript building along College Street. (Branching out also includes teaching myself the ukulele in hopes that the Faculty of Music will acknowledge my hidden musical talent and accept me as their own.) 

Turns out that this building on College that I’ve passed by so many times the past three years is the John H. Daniels building for the Faculty of Architecture, Landscape, and Design. Inside is the Eric Arthur Gallery, currently celebrating the 125th anniversary of the architecture program at U of T. The exhibit provides a retrospective look at the history of architecture and the evolution of its teaching tools within the scope of our university.

I was surprised that I’d never heard of this gallery before. While UTAC and the Justina M. Barnicke galleries are two (free) art galleries on campus (see Amie's post from the archives about the UTAC!), the Eric Arthur is geared towards architectural exhibitions, which may be why I’d never heard of it until now. I loved the layout of the exhibition the second I walked in, just because anything that is organized cleanly makes me feel very satisfied.

This exhibit celebrating the 125th anniversary of the Faculty of Architecture is primarily displayed as a timeline, starting from the inception of the program in 1890 and going up by five-year intervals to present day. The timeline is cleverly and meticulously organized; each interval showcases photographs of student life at the time, followed by administrative and professional developments within the faculty, course syllabi and assignments, newspaper clippings and photographs depicting important events in Canadian, architectural and world history respectively.

There are also other features of the exhibition like old artifacts used by architecture students in particular time periods.

If you’re interested in architecture and/or the history of our school, this exhibit is a fantastic look at U of T’s legacy. There is so much information dropped on you at once that I was very content to spend a long amount of time wandering around the gallery during my break between classes. The gallery is free and this exhibit runs until October 2. I’d love to come back to see what other exhibits they plan on holding next!

The St. George campus is so big that sometimes we glaze over buildings that turn out to be super interesting. What places have you discovered on campus that have surprised you? Let me know in the comments or Instagram a photo of it and tag us at @lifeatuoft!