Place Ville-Marie

See also: Marie, City-Marie

The Place City-Marie or 1, Place Ville-Marie , is the higher fourth Gratte-ciel of Montreal. It is located at the southern end of the Avenue McGill College, contrary to the Université McGill in the Quartier Sainte-Marie of the district City-Marie.

The complex of the City-Marie Place was built between 1958 and 1962 by the New Yorkean promoter William Zeckendorf and its architect Ieoh Ming Pei above sliced railway tunnel which passes under the Royal Mont. The construction of such a vast complex in what was a place difficult to emphasize was a stroke of genius which contributed to reorientate the development of the downtown area montréalais. The promoter went bankrupt with this project however a few years later.

The building principal, cruciform, measurement 188.1 m (617 feet) and have 46 stages. The complex was developed in four buildings in order not to be too built in height, since the Town of Montreal limits by regulation the height of scrapes-ciels with that of the Royal Mont.

In spite of its age, the complex remains still today the pivot of the downtown area and the central point of the underground Montreal, geographically and historically. To its lower level, a Shopping mall of the same name is connected by tunnels to the Center Eaton and the Central station (this last tunnel passing under the Boulevard Rene-Lévesque).

See too

Liste of the 10 higher skyscrapers of Montreal
the royal Banque of Canada has an important branch there, of regional management

External bonds

Official site Places City-Marie
Skyscraperpage
Carte Google
Place City-Marie on IMTL.org (Repertory of the buildings of Montreal)

Random links: