THIS MUSEUM HAS BEEN MOVED TO NEW YORK CITY
1721 South Mason Road
St. Louis, MO 63131-1518
Admission: $6 for adults, $1 for children, and $4 for seniors. Parking is free.
http://www.museumofthedog.org/
Moved to St. Louis in 1987 - moving to NYC in fall 2018
The AKC Museum of the Dog is located in Queeny Park, a St. Louis County public park that was dedicated in 1974 to the memory of the land's previous owner, Edgar M. Queeny, who had served as president of Monsanto Chemical Company.
Mr. and Mrs. Queeny purchased the house and estate in 1931. Built in 1853 and known as Jarville House, the house is one of very few outstanding examples of Greek revival architecture in St. Louis County. After serving the county for 12 years as an office building (1972-1986), Jarville became the new home of the AKC Museum of the Dog, which had been founded in New York City in 1981 but had outgrown its Madison Avenue home.
In 1989 construction began on the 14,000 square foot addition to Jarville which connected the former carriage house/garage to the original house. The entrance to the museum is in this addition.
The museum "is dedicated to collecting, exhibiting, interpreting, and preserving the art, artifacts, and literature of the dog for the purpose of education, aesthetic enjoyment, and appreciation of the dog and human-canine relationship."
Not surprising many of the paintings date back to the Victorian Era, when the dog was very popular as a subject of art work. This Newfoundland, The President, was painted in 1868, by Horatio Henry Couldery.
Many of the paintings are portraits of individual dogs. This Beagle was painted in 1900 by Gustav Muss-Arnolt.
Other paintings show groups of dogs such as these Spaniels painted in 1792 by George Morland.
These Golden Retrievers are in a contemporary painting by Sally Berner. It is titled Evening Stroll.
These Japanese Chins were painted in 1939 by Cleanthe Carr.
Some paintings mix breeds such as Willpower, 1891, that includes a Pug and a Terrier.
The Bumble Bee, c. 1840, includes four breeds.
This painting has at least six breeds included among the ten dogs painted.
And of course, some paintings include owners with their dogs. This painting of two Schipperkes and their mistress was painted in 1899.
Portrait of a Lady with Two Dogs was painted in 1897.
Some paintings show working dogs. Here a Mastiff helps a steer pull a cart.
This contemporary painting by Chris Sheban shows a humorous rendition of a hunting dog.
In The Poacher, 1865, a Mastiff protects his master's animals from the poacher and the poacher's dog.
And then there are famous dogs. We all remember Millie.
The museum has many three dimensional art pieces including many Victorian porcelain pieces. This Royal Doulton piece, The Master, shows a faithful Collie.
Other Royal Doulton pieces include these Bulldogs, part of the English Bulldog Collection.
Three Whippets Racing, again in porcelain.
German Shepherds and Great Danes in porcelain.
No dog museum is complete without recognition of St. Francis of Assisi. In this 1992 bronze statue he is pictured with the Champion Poodle Rimskittle Romp.
This 1996 bronze of a dachshund is called The Good Life.
This 1990 bronze is called Stumped.
A large Great Dane in bronze.
Another Great Dane in Bronze, c. 2005.
Three Puppies and a Snail in bronze, late nineteenth century.
Life is Sweet, 2007, dachshunds in bronze.
The Rhodes at Bay; Rhodesian Ridgebacks in bronze.
Fun dogs done in ceramics.
This 1882 sterling silver tray is engraved with the image of Snowflight, the Greyhound that won the 1882 Waterloo Cup.
Hounds with Master of the Hunt, 1896, in English Sterling Sheffield
Several areas of the museum are dedicated to specific topics, such as this Dogs of War section.
A Yorkshire Terrier wore this army mascot blanket in the Southwest Pacific Theatre of Operations in WWII.
"The concept for the All-Star Dogs Hall of Fame originated in 1989 with the first induction of four dogs taking place in 1991. The second induction in 1993 included the obedience category, adding five more dogs to the Hall of Fame. Subsequent inductions follow every three to five years. The Hall of Fame pays tribute to the best of man's best friend."
This St. Louis County Police K-9 Unit exhibit is permanent and was updated in May.
The museum has two special dog houses on display. This is a Victorian Era, 1872, Chihuahua Dog House made of wood, glass, and brass.
This magnificent house was built about 1995 and is a Palladian Style Doghouse with marble floors.
The museum has several miscellaneous dog-related items. This is a Mastiff carousel figure from the late nineteenth century.
This is a Victorian Child's Dog Cart.
This is a freight dog sled.
One dog collar is made of brass with a leather lining and the other one is made of silver.
This is a coffee table with dogs serving as the legs and a dog rug underneath.
This is a Victorian Dog Purse featuring a Boxer.
Three early twentieth century gold pieces of jewelry featuring dogs.
Three gold jewelry pieces featuring Mastiffs.
Another Mastiff brooch from the late 1800's and a gold charm bracelet with ten award ribbons and a St. Francis of Assisi charm.
The museum has a large empty room that is rented out for weddings and other occasions. The day we were there a Kennelwood training class was in session in this room.
The museum has a small gift shop with a few dog-related items.
We had lunch 4 miles away in Des Peres at a restaurant that opened a year ago called Circa St. Louis. The restaurant has a menu of only St. Louis style food - think pork steaks, Famous-Barr onion soup, gooey butter cake, etc. - and it is filed with hundreds of items from St. Louis's past.
The walls are covered with posters and memorabilia.
Doors from old St. Louis homes separate the booths which include pews from an old demolished St. Louis church.
Seats from old Busch Stadium in the waiting area.
There are so many items on display that a recent article in the St. Louis Post Dispatch said "How many times have you been out to a museum where you say, let's go get some lunch. Here you don't have to go. This is the museum."
Loved seeing these bottles from business's owned by families of friends.
Comments:
Spending 25 days of the month out of the country, I chose this museum for October because I thought it would be small and not very taxing to visit after our long trip. It was a relaxing visit but a much larger museum than I had anticipated. I was under the impression that the museum has only a few paintings but there is a nice variety of art on display particularly in the addition galleries. We spent about an hour meandering through all of the galleries and could have spent more time, as with any museum, studying each piece and display.
We also wanted to visit this museum before it moves back to New York City next fall. I am glad we did.
I assumed that this is the kind of museum that does not draw school field trips and did not call ahead as I normally do. There was a small handful of other visitors present when we were there but most galleries were empty while we toured.
Circa STL was a fun place to eat and fortunately it was not too crowded so we were able to walk around and look at the exhibits and reminisce. The menu definitely is full of "St. Louis food" and the restaurant has a reputation for serving good food. We were a little disappointed in the Famous Barr French onion soup but the sandwich was excellent and the salads were fresh.
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