August 2025.
Continuing westward from the prior post’s conclusion along Boulevard Rene-Levesque in Montreal, this next installment will focus on Dorchester Square and the buildings that border it.
CIBC Tower
Another International-style slab, the CIBC Tower is exceptionally skinny due to a zoning ordinance limiting total floor area to twelve times the property area. It was designed by associated architects Peter Dickinson and Ross, Fish, Duschenes, and Barrett, and it replaced the fire-damaged Windsor Hotel on the site. It was completed in 1962 and became Montreal’s tallest building, a distinction it only held for a year. At 604 feet, it is the fourteenth-tallest building today.
1194 Rue Peel
This building is an example of Art Moderne architecture, as it has characteristics of early Modern design. The simplistic ornamentation (the rectangle accents beneath windows) and wide bays of rectangular windows stick out to me. I think it dates to 1930-1940.
It housed the Windsor Steak House from the 1950s to the 1970s or so, a groovy Mid-Century Modern restaurant.
McLean’s Pub
A snazzy Renaissance Revival design, this building dates to 1910. It is currently occupied by McLean’s Pub, and although I did not go inside, the interior retains much of its original woodwork.
1220-1224 Rue Peel
A 1970s or 1980s metal facade sits on top of a heavily altered, yet rich in detail, Beaux-Arts building. It was a dance club known as “Vibes” in 2007 but has since closed. I thought the facade had some glass part stripped away, but I guess it has always been like this. I think there could have been some fun abstract photography shots of the contrasting facades in hindsight.
I also have this view of its crown, along with some neighboring ghost signs and a nearby mural:
Boer War Memorial
This 1907 sculpture, made by George William Hill, honors the veterans of the Boer War. The Boer War was fought between the British Empire and Africa’s Boer republics, part of the wider British imperialism of the time and in an effort to maintain its colonial presence in Africa.
Dominion Square Building
Historic photo of the Dominion Square Building. (Pointe-à-Callière Museum)
Dorchester Square’s original name was Dominion Square, and that is where this building gets its name. It was commissioned by Montreal investors in the late 1920s and designed by Ross & Macdonald in the Renaissance Revival style with a Rockwood limestone facade, replacing the 1866 Erskine Presbyterian Church formerly on the site. (A lot of sources call it Beaux-Arts, but the building has more Renaissance-influenced ornamentation.) It was the largest office building in Canada upon completion in 1930 and also held a two-floor shopping gallery, making it one of the earliest malls in the country. The basement also held a four-story parking garage.
The glass mezzanine dates to a 1989 renovation and is rather poorly designed. It takes away from the original street facade and undermines the original stalwart nature of the base.
Detail of one of the wings that extend from the central I-shaped shaft of the building:
Note the abundant ornamentation, vaulted windows, and green copper roof.
Vaulted entrance detail:
Column capitals supporting the archivolts:
Bar Dominion
Another Beaux-Arts design, this one probably dates to 1900-1920. I like its spandrels beneath the arched windows, which feature chimarae.
980 Rue Sainte-Catherine West
This building is technically on Rue Sainte-Catherine, but I only got the Rue Metcalfe facade. It seems like a late Beaux-Arts design with more abstracted ornamentation, probably dating to 1920-1930. The main shaft of the building is unusually bare and mostly smooth stone.
The following Montreal post jumps forward a bit to Cote du Beaver Hall and Rue du Square-Victoria.
Sources:
https://web.archive.org/web/20130511213233/http://www.glasssteelandstone.com/BuildingDetail/938.php
https://www.skyscrapercenter.com/building/wd/2173
https://www.flickr.com/photos/jeanfrancoishayeur/albums/72177720310366198/
https://artpublicmontreal.ca/oeuvre/monument-aux-heros-de-la-guerre-des-boers/
https://historicplacesdays.ca/places/dominion-square-building/
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