Architecture sights in Montréal
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Basilique Notre-Dame
The grand dame of Montréal’s ecclesiastical treasures, this basilica is a must-see when exploring the city. The looming neo-Gothic church can hold up to 3000 worshippers and houses a collection of finely crafted artworks, including an elaborately carved altarpiece, vibrant stained-glass windows and an intricate pulpit. The Sulpicians had an ever-growing congregation and no one in the soon-to-be Canadian colonies schooled in neo-Gothic architecture. So they commissioned James O’Donnell, a New York architect and Irish Protestant, to design what would be the largest church north of Mexico. Such was O’Donnell’s dedication to the project that he converted to Catholicism so he…
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Three Courthouses
Along the north side of Rue Notre-Dame Est near Pl Jacques-Cartier, three courthouses stand bunched together. The most fetching is the neoclassical Vieux Palais de Justice, Montréal’s old justice palace and oldest courthouse (1856) that’s now an annex of the Hôtel de Ville. It’s a popular backdrop for wedding photos. The Édifice Ernest Cormier from the 1920s was used for criminal trials before being turned into a conservatory and later a court of appeal. The ugly stepsister is the oversized Palais de Justice, built in 1971 when concrete and smoked glass were all the rage.
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Bank of Montréal
Modeled after the Pantheon in Rome, the grand colonnaded edifice of Canada’s oldest chartered bank, built in 1847, dominates the north side of Place-d’Armes and is still a working bank. The imposing interior has 32 marble columns and a coffered 20m ceiling in Italian Renaissance style over a long row of tellers behind glass partitions. The helmeted marble lady is Patria, representing a minor Roman god of patriotism to honor the war dead. A snoozy money museum inside the bank has a replica of a cashier’s window, old banknotes and an account of early banking in Canada.
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St Patrick’s Basilica
Built for Montréal’s booming Irish population in 1847, the interior of St Patrick’s Basilica contains huge columns from single pine trunks, an ornate baptismal font and nectar-colored stained-glass windows. The pope raised its status to basilica in 1989, in recognition of its importance to English-speaking Catholics in Montréal. It’s a sterling example of French-Gothic style and, as you might expect, is classified a national monument. The Irish-Canadian patriot D’Arcy McGee was buried here after his assassination in 1868; his pew (number 240) is marked with a small Canadian flag.
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Windsor Hotel
The palatial Windsor was Canada’s first grand hotel (1878) and played host to all manner of international guests and celebrities, including Mark Twain, Winston Churchill, King George VI, Queen Elizabeth II and John F Kennedy. The original Windsor had six restaurants and 382 sumptuous guest rooms, but a fire that devastated the hotel in 1957 left only the annex – the portion still standing today. You can stroll down the magnificent main hall, Peacock Alley, and peek at the vast wooden dance floors, chandeliers and high windows that recall turn-of-the-century splendor.
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Gare Windsor
The massive Victorian building hugging the slope west of the Marriott Château Champlain is the old Windsor Station, opened in 1889 as the headquarters of the Canadian Pacific Railway. The Romanesque structure inspired a château style for train stations across the country; its architect, Bruce Price, would later build the remarkable Château Frontenac in Québec City. The station is no longer the terminus of the transcontinental railway but still serves commuter trains. Much of the building today houses offices and shops.
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Palais des Congrès
Entering the hall of this convention center with its facade of popsicle-colored panes is akin to strolling through a kaleidoscope. Day brings out the colors, night the transparency. The cutting-edge Palais integrates several historic buildings: a 1908 fire station, the art-deco Tramways building from 1928 and a Victorian-era office complex. Immediately east of the Palais lies a landscape garden with stone pathways linking 31 heaps of earth, each topped off with Montréal’s official tree, the crab apple.
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Maison Alcan
This mélange of four carefully restored 19th- and 20th-century buildings is not only an architectural wonder, but also the symbolic headquarters of the Alcan aluminum concern. It integrates the old Berkeley Hotel and four houses, including the Atholstan House, a Québec historic monument. To the rear is an intriguing atrium with a pretty garden. Also on the property stands the Emmanuel Congregation Church, which belongs to the Salvation Army.
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Le Château
This fortress-like apartment complex was designed by the famed Montréal architects George Ross and Robert MacDonald. The style would do Errol Flynn proud: Scottish and French Renaissance with stone battlements, demons and pavilion roofs. In the early 20th century these were some of Montréal’s most elegant apartments. You can walk into the romantic courtyard for a closer look at the walls; fossilized shells are visible in the granite blocks.
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Cours le Royer
Montréal’s first hospital was founded on this narrow lane by Jeanne Mance in 1644. Later on, a huge commercial complex was built here, leaving several beautiful 19th-century warehouses behind. The buildings caught the eyes of developers in the 1970s and were converted into apartments and offices. Today, the buildings line this quiet pedestrian mall pocked with lush greenery.
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Chapelle Notre-Dame-de-Lourdes
Now hidden among the university buildings, this Romanesque gem was built by the Sulpicians in 1876 to cement their influence in Montréal. The chapel was designed by Rue St-Denis resident, artist Napoléon Bourassa, whose frescoes dotted about the interior are regarded as his crowning glory.
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