McLuhan childhood home to become museum

The Winnipeg home where media theorist Marshall McLuhan spent his childhood will be converted to a museum and living space for a scholar in residence.

McLuhan lived at 507 Gertrude Ave. from 1921 to 1934, before he left Winnipeg to study at Cambridge University in England.

Howard Engel, the president of the Winnipeg non-profit Marshall McLuhan Initiative, has been eyeing the Osborne Village home since 2011.

“It’s been on my radar for quite some time,” Engel said.

McLuhan, a Canadian professor and philosopher, was well-known for his work on media theory and the effects of mass media on thought and behaviour.

He coined the term “the medium is the message,” which is still widely used in the media and communications industry to explain the relationship between technology and informational content.

In 1915, when McLuhan was four years old, his family moved to Winnipeg from Edmonton. He attended Kelvin Technical School, before enrolling in the University of Manitoba in 1928, where he received a bachelor of arts degree.

McLuhan has been honoured with a hall that bears his name at U of M and at historic homes in Toronto and Edmonton.

McLuhan died on Dec. 31, 1980, a few months after suffering a stroke. He was 69.

“(Marshall McLuhan’s) biggest contribution, I think, is encouraging people to be critical thinkers.”– Howard Engel

After years of being unable to buy the home from previous owners, Engel’s real estate agent brokered a deal in January and the home was signed over to him and his wife, Esther Juce.

“We’re excited, we’re forward-looking now,” Engel said.

Engel plans to include a gathering and lecture room, a library and media centre and living and working quarters for a scholar in residence once the home is restored, at an expected cost of $500,000.

The group plans to host conferences to mark various milestones in McLuhan’s life and work.

Engel plans to open the home in 2027.

“This will take time but we’re confident it will be worth it in the grand scheme of things,” he said.

The current media landscape shows McLuhan’s philosophies are more important than ever.

“His biggest contribution, I think, is encouraging people to be critical thinkers,” he said. “One of the things he said in one of his interviews was, ‘I don’t want people to believe me, I just want them to think.’”

Cindy Tugwell, executive director of Heritage Winnipeg, applauded the project and said it’s not only important in terms of preserving the history of Winnipeg, but with patriotism on the rise in Canada, amid U.S. President Donald Trump’s tariff war, it’s crucial to learn about the country’s past to be able to represent it.

She and Engel think the restored McLuhan home could be a tourist destination.

“(The home) holds the seeds of his communications and understanding communications. We have some claims to fame here that we need to make known.”– Howard Engel

“People can learn not only about the building and the beautiful architecture, but the stories and the social history,” Tugwell said.

“(Canadians) support civic pride and national pride because it’s identifying; what does it mean to be a Canadian? What does it mean to be a Winnipegger… if you don’t know your Canadian history, how can you be patriotic?”

Other notable Manitobans whose homes still stand in Winnipeg include Burton Cummings and Neil Young, the latter of which was visited by Bob Dylan in 2008.

Tugwell said there’s value in keeping historic homes in livable condition, both for historical significance and the city’s future.

“I think that people underestimate how complex heritage and history is in the contribution to touching everything, quite frankly, whether it’s community or environment or social history or connectivity,” she said.

Engel couldn’t agree more.

“(The home) holds the seeds of his communications and understanding communications,” he said. “We have some claims to fame here that we need to make known.”

nicole.buffie@freepress.mb.ca