Rue Saint-Jacques (Montreal)
The Rue Saint-Jacques ( English Saint-Jacques Street , formerly mainly called St. James Street ) is a street in Montreal . It begins in the Lachine arrondissement at Autoroute 20 , runs through the eastern part of the city center and ends after 4.7 kilometers in the old town ( Vieux-Montréal ). The easternmost section of Rue Saint-Jacques was Canada's most important financial center until the 1950s .
history
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François Dollier de Casson , the local head of the Sulpizian order , together with the surveyor Bénigne Basset, measured a new binding street grid and determined the names of the streets in 1672. He named the Rue Saint-Jacques after Jean-Jacques Olier , the founder of the Sulpizians and the Société Notre-Dame de Montréal . The name may also be derived from Jacques Archambault, one of the first settlers in Montreal, over whose property the road ran.
In the second half of the 19th century, the Rue Saint-Jacques finally lost its character as a residential area and became the center of the Canadian financial services industry. Several major insurance companies and banks set up their headquarters on the street. The Tour de la Banque Royale , the headquarters of the Royal Bank of Canada , was the tallest building in the British Empire when it opened in 1928 . The Bank of Montreal and the Bank of Nova Scotia were also represented here . Another element was the editorial rooms of various influential newspapers.
The decline of the financial center on Rue Saint-Jacques began in the late 1950s. Various companies moved into the new business district to the west, where numerous skyscrapers were built. Others preferred to move to Toronto , where Bay Street became the new center of Canada's financial services industry. This trend intensified after 1976 during the reign of the separatist Parti Québécois .
The rue Saint-Jacques plays a leading role in Gabrielle Roy's novel Bonheur d'occasion from 1945, here the main characters from the ordinary people's milieu during the Second World War constantly meet.
Todays situation
In response to the significant loss of importance of the Rue Saint-Jacques, the city and the Ministry of Culture of the Province of Québec implemented a development program and the street attracted companies in the fields of communication, design and culture. Several former bank and insurance buildings have been converted into luxury hotels or apartment buildings. In addition, there are bars, restaurants, boutiques and studios of the television V .
More streets
In the eastern part, Rue Saint-Jacques runs parallel to Rue Notre-Dame . Important cross streets include Rue Guy , Rue Peel , Rue University , Rue McGill and Boulevard Saint-Laurent .
Web links
Coordinates: 45 ° 30 ′ 16.2 " N , 73 ° 33 ′ 28.4" W.