August 2025.
This final organized Montreal post makes a big jump to Rue Notre-Dame by Vauquelin Place. Again, at this point in time during my day, my camera battery was running low, and I was in a mad dash to cover everything I could with the life I had left. This post and the one after it will be characterized with fewer, more haphazard pictures.
Chateau Ramezay
1900 photo of the chateau. (Vieux-Montreal)
One of Montreal’s oldest existing buildings, Chateau Ramezay was originally built in 1705 for Montreal’s governor at the time, Claude de Ramezay. It was occupied by his heirs after his death and then rented out until 1745, when the French Indies Company was granted ownership, and it immediately expanded the building. The 1705 chateau burned down in 1754, and a larger building was completed in 1757, which is the existing iteration.
Notably, Americans occupied Chateau Ramezay in 1775 and 1776, when they occupied Montreal. Benjamin Franklin even stayed at the house for a time in the spring of 1776. The Montreal government acquired Chateau Ramezay afterwards and immediately carried out major renovations, making it the governor’s residence again until the 1830s. Various other government offices and educational organizations occupied the chateau for the remainder of the century. In 1895, it was converted into a museum, which resulted in the demolition of various additions that were unoriginal to the building and the addition of a turret on the right side.
Chateau Ramezay remains a museum today, and the inside is pretty cool. I regret not exploring it any further.
Old Montreal Courthouse
Original 1803 courthouse. (Vieux-Montreal)
The Old Montreal Courthouse was built to replace an older courthouse completed in 1803, which burnt down in 1844. An architectural competition was held for a new design, which was won by John Ostell and Henri-Maurice Perrault. Its construction began in 1851 and the building was fully completed in 1857, though the courts were in session by May 1856.
1860 view of the recently completed courthouse. (McCord Stewart Museum)
The courthouse was transferred to the government of Quebec around 1889, and between 1890 and 1894, architect Maurice Perrault added a full third floor and a partial fourth floor over the center of the building, along with a larger dome. Despite this, the expanded space was still insufficient, and an annex was built to the south between 1903 and 1905.
The expanded courthouse in 1895. (Vieux-Montreal)
When the Ernest Cormier Building was built to the east in 1926, some of the government offices relocated there. The construction of the current Palais de Justice led to the complete abandonment of the old courthouse after 110 years, and it was then transferred to the city of Montreal. The city did some restoration work in the 1990s and still uses the old courthouse today.
Admittedly not the greatest photos of the facade, but oh well.
The 1895 Beaux-Arts addition is much different from the more sober original Greek Revival building. There is more applied ornamentation, as seen in the panels and balustrades. The only ornamentation on the original is the pedimented windows and columns.
Central pediment and entrance:
La Sauvegarde Building
1914 photo of the building. (Vieux-Montreal)
This tall, skinny Beaux-Arts building was constructed for the La Sauvegarde insurance company by Archibald & Saxe in 1913. The nearby courthouse led to tenants such as lawyers and notaries in the office space. La Sauvegarde occupied the building until 1974, though it was purchased by Desjardins Group in 1962. The building was most recently restored in the 2010s.
I like this sign on the frieze and the patina of the metal ornamentation:
I tried for a Barry Butler-esque photo through La Grande Roue de Montreal, but it didn’t come out too great.
Ernest Cormier Building
View of the building shortly after construction was completed. (Vieux-Montreal)
The Ernest Cormier Building, as it is now known, was built as a new courthouse to replace the older building across Rue Notre-Dame. The older courthouse was not fireproof, putting the judicial archives at risk, and it was becoming too crowded. It was designed in 1920 by architects Louis-Auguste Amos, Charles J. Saxony, and Ernest Cormier in the Beaux-Arts style, and construction took place between 1922 and 1926. About 20 buildings that previously occupied the block were demolished for the building’s construction. The building served as Montreal’s courthouse until 1971, when construction on the nearby Palais de Justice was completed.
After 1971, the building held the National Archives of Quebec and the music and drama conservatories. It is currently used as the Quebec court of appeals.
Unlike the winged plan of the 1857 courthouse, the Rue Notre-Dame facade of the Ernest Cormier Building is entirely dominated by a massive Doric entablature. These colossal columns span two stories, with a cornice above, and the windows and other features common of a more modern building are recessed behind.
The main entrance is a sort of semicircular niche, with giant, classically-inspired doors inside:
A closer look at the doors and the column bases:
Palais de Justice
A massive International-style building (the image above is just the tower), the Palais de Justice is Montreal’s current courthouse building. It was designed by David, Barott, and Boulva (though Peter Barott died in 1964) between 1962 and 1963, and its construction took place between 1968 and 1971. As was pretty typical for buildings of this era, it replaced several historic buildings on Rue Saint-Jacques, which was even more egregious considering that it was listed as a historic district even then.
It has a very typical International expression with its facade bare of ornamentation, vertical I-beams, and its recessed entrance.
Joseph-Moise Valois Building
Joseph-Moise Valois, a bookseller and notary, commissioned this Second Empire building in 1886 for offices to lease out. It was sold to his nephew Louis-Joseph-Odilon Beauchemin in 1905, and the family owned it until 1963. The upper floors were converted to apartments in the 1980s.
The final Old Montreal post will be a catch-all for everything that didn’t fit neatly into my other articles.
Sources:
https://www.vieux.montreal.qc.ca/inventaire/fiches/secteur.php?sec=a
No comments:
Post a Comment