Zwicker’s Gallery was started in 1886 by Judson Zwicker, who operated the gallery for 51 years, and in 1957, the business was assumed by Leroy Zwicker and his wife Marguerite.

In 1970 Zwicker’s gallery passed into the ownership of Ian and Anne Muncaster, who adapted the gallery to meet the changing needs of the local community.

Originally located in a building on Jacob Street in the then fashionable North End of Halifax, Zwicker’s is currently situated on Doyle Street, adjacent to the now fashionable Spring Garden Road shopping district in the city of Halifax on Canada’s East Coast.

The business was primarily founded to serve the officers of the British garrison and their wives. Halifax at that time was the site of the second-largest military garrison in the British Empire, and the large cadre of both military and naval officers and their families provided a viable market for the gallery’s services.

The gallery was the focus of many artistic activities in Halifax, in the almost total absence of any public institutions displaying art. Many local artists gathered in the gallery to see each other’s work and to organize painting trips to the surrounding area.

It was not until the 1970s that the university community started to provide public galleries that offered professional curatorial services to the local visual arts community. Also, the establishment of the Art Gallery of Nova Scotia helped to provide a permanent public venue for local, national and international art exhibitions.