Place Ville-Marie

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Place Ville-Marie
Place Ville-Marie
Basic data
Place: Montreal , Canada
Construction time : 1958–1962
Status : Built
Architectural style : International style
Architect : Ieoh Ming Pei , Henry N. Cobb ,
Dimitri Dimakopoulos
Use / legal
Usage : Office space, shopping center
Owner : SITQ
Technical specifications
Height : 188 m
Rank (height) : 4th place (Montreal)
Floors : 47
Elevators : 32
Floor area : 95,922 m²
Building material : Steel , glass , limestone

Place Ville-Marie is a skyscraper in Montreal . It is located in the city center at the intersection of Boulevard René-Lévesque and Rue University . With a height of 188 meters and 47 floors, it is the fourth tallest building in the city. The international-style skyscraper has an eye-catching cross-shaped floor plan. When it opened in 1962, it was the tallest building in the city and in all of Canada .

history

The land on which the building stands was originally a wide cut on the flank of Mont Royal , in which the Canadian National Railway ran between the main station and the south portal of the Mont Royal tunnel . A large part of the building was built above the tracks. The entire property was owned by the railway company, with the exception of the venerable St. James Club , which frequented the city's Anglophone elite. Mayor Jean Drapeau ordered the expropriations and the sale to the building contractor William Zeckendorf .

The main architect was Henry N. Cobb , who was assisted by Ieoh Ming Pei and Dimitri Dimakopoulos . The design was controversial from the start due to its proximity to numerous Montreal attractions and the enormous changes it would bring to the city center. According to design historian Mark Pimlott, "the most radical aspect was that almost half the area of ​​280,000 square meters was below street level ... This gave the undeniable advantage of being protected from the extreme winter and summer climates of Montreal."

Construction began in 1958. When it opened on September 13, 1962, Place Ville-Marie was the tallest building in the city and Canada, but also the tallest building in a Commonwealth of Nations and the world's largest office building in terms of floor space. Jean Drapeau had chosen the name personally, in memory of Fort Ville-Marie , the first French settlement in the city. During the construction phase, those responsible decided to build three additional floors so that the building would not be surpassed by the Tour CIBC , which is also under construction . Place Ville-Marie remained the tallest building in the city until 1964, after which it was towered over by the Tour de la Bourse .

Building

The name Place Ville-Marie is usually only used for the cross-shaped building, but the complex also includes three lower skyscrapers, which were built in 1963/64, and a large square in between. The square satisfied the need for a large, publicly usable area in the city center and over the years has developed into a popular place for political rallies. The main tenants are the Royal Bank of Canada (in the main building) and the railway company VIA Rail (in the Place Ville-Marie building 3). Air Canada was also headquartered here in the 1970s .

A light buoy is installed on the roof and operates from sunset to sunrise. It takes 32 seconds to complete one turn and is visible up to a distance of 58 kilometers. On the top floor is the Altitude 737 restaurant (named for the altitude in feet), which also includes a terrace and a disco. For the tenth anniversary of the building in 1972 , a fountain designed by Gerald Gladstone with a diameter of eleven meters was unveiled in the forecourt . Since 1966, an artificial Christmas tree made of iron wires and LED lights has been set up there during the Christmas season . The shopping center under Place Ville-Marie is integrated into the extensive underground city and is its oldest part. From there, sheltered from the weather, you can reach numerous neighboring buildings and several metro stations .

Web links

Commons : Place Ville-Marie  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b Derek Drummond: In praise of modernist civic spaces in Canada. (PDF, 432 KB) (No longer available online.) In: Policy Options. Institute for research on public policy, February 2004, pp. 54-55 , archived from the original on December 1, 2006 ; accessed on May 11, 2012 . Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.irpp.org
  2. ↑ a b Grande depuis le premier jour. (PDF; 690 kB) Place Ville-Marie, January 2012, accessed on May 11, 2012 (French).
  3. ^ Mark Pimlott: Place Ville Marie, Montréal (2007). Art Design Café, March 24, 2011, accessed May 11, 2012 .
  4. ^ World Airline Directory. (PDF) Flight Global, March 20, 1975, accessed May 11, 2012 .
  5. ↑ La grande dame de Montréal. (PDF; 495 kB) Place Ville-Marie, accessed on May 11, 2012 (French).

Coordinates: 45 ° 30 ′ 5.8 "  N , 73 ° 34 ′ 6.8"  W.