 The east-facing façade of the McLaughlin Planetarium building in 2008 | |
 | |
| Established | 1968 |
|---|---|
| Dissolved | 1995 |
| Location | 100 Queen's Park Toronto, Ontario, Canada. |
| Coordinates | 43°40′01″N 79°23′39″W / 43.666964°N 79.394181°W |
| Type | Planetarium museum |
| Public transit access | Museum |
| Website | N/A |
The McLaughlin Planetarium is a former working planetarium whose building occupies a space immediately to the south of the Royal Ontario Museum in Toronto, at 100 Queen's Park. Founded by a grant from philanthropist Colonel R. Samuel McLaughlin, the facility was opened to the public on October 26, 1968. It had, for its time, a state-of-the-art electro-mechanical Zeiss planetarium projector that was used to project regular themed shows about the stars, planets, and cosmology for visitors. By the 1980s the planetarium's sound-system and domed ceiling were used to display dazzling music-themed laser-light shows. The lower levels of the planetarium contained a gallery called the "Astrocentre" that featured space-related exhibits, related artifacts on the history of astronomy and was also home of the world's first commercial Stellarium[1]
Starting in 1978, there was a decline in attendance that lasted for four years while major construction was being undertaken at its sibling institution, the adjacent Royal Ontario Museum. This work also entailed the demolition of part of the planetarium's facilities. Though attendance picked up when the museum reopened in 1984, the planetarium was forced to close on November 5, 1995, due to provincial budget cuts to the museum. The planetarium's exhibits, artifacts and theatre facilities were subsequently dismantled and dispersed. For a brief period it housed the Children's Own Museum. It is now used solely for offices and as a storage facility for the museum.[2][3]
Early in 2009, the R.O.M. announced that it had sold the building and site to the University of Toronto, which plans to demolish the existing building to make way for additional facilities.[4][5] In September 2014, the university announced preliminary plans for new facilities to be built on the site.[6]
- ^ "Stellarium" Royal Ontario Museum. Accessed August 6, 2007. Archived December 2, 2005, at the Wayback Machine
- ^ Browne, Kelvin. Bold Visions: The Architecture of the Royal Ontario Museum—Souvenir Edition. p.21. Royal Ontario Museum. ISBN 978-0-88854-450-6
- ^ "Sirrah McLaughlin". torontoist.com. March 2008. Retrieved 2009-08-17.
- ^ Barber, John (27 January 2009). "U of T gets room to grow, ROM gets out of a jam". The Globe and Mail. Toronto. Retrieved 2022-10-21.
- ^ O'Brien, Chrissie (19 February 2009). "Royal Ontario Museum agrees to sell McLaughlin Planetarium site to University of Toronto". Daily Commercial News and Construction Record. Archived from the original on 2012-02-20. Retrieved 2022-10-21.
- ^ Beeston, Laura (27 January 2017). "Petition launched to save McLaughlin Planetarium from demolition". Toronto Star. Retrieved 2017-01-27.