herr2ck: The One in Montreal

August 2025.

Notre-Dame Basilica is perhaps the best work of Gothic Revival architecture in Montreal and a popular tourist destination, so naturally it was completely flocked with people when I visited. It was here that I first noticed an odd trend with Montreal’s Gothic Revival architecture--the churches with the most unassuming exteriors (at least in terms of ornamentation) have the most splendid interiors, and vice versa.

Notre-Dame is located at 110 Rue Notre Dame West in the Old Montreal neighborhood of Montreal, Quebec. It is bordered by Rue Saint-Sulpice to the north, the Sulpician Seminary to the south, Rue Saint-Paul’s commercial buildings to the east, and Rue Notre-Dame and Place d’Armes to the west.

History

Notre-Dame can trace its origins to the year 1657, as the Society of Saint-Sulpice in what was then known as Ville-Marie (now Montreal) was established that year. The seigneury of Montreal was donated to the Sulpicians in 1663, and a 1672 urban plan for Montreal took the form of a gridded street system centered on a church and marketplace. This early church site is still the one that Notre-Dame stands on today.

1828 view of Notre-Dame Basilica under construction behind the Notre-Dame Church, immediately before its demolition. (McCord Stewart Museum)

The first Notre-Dame church was built between 1672 and 1678 with a “Jesuit plan.” Various renovations and additions occurred in the 18th century, and the church served Montreal until the early 19th century. By 1824, the congregation had outgrown the church, and Irish-American architect James O’Donnell was commissioned to design a larger Gothic Revival replacement.

Notre-Dame’s construction began in September 1824, when the cornerstone was laid. The wooden frame was completed in 1827, and the vaulting and interior were finished two years later. The sanctuary opened in 1830. O’Donnell died that year and renounced his Anglican faith on his deathbed, enabling him to be buried in the church’s crypt, remaining the only burial there today. English architect John Ostell executed the remainder of O’Donnell’s plans, and the towers were finished in 1841 and 1843, respectively. The church’s facade was completed in 1865, including three statues in large niches.

A 19th-century engraving of the church. (Quebec Religious Heritage Foundation)

Upon its completion in 1830, Notre-Dame was the largest church in North America, and it held this distinction until 1879, when St. Patrick’s Cathedral opened in New York City. The massive Early Gothic towers were intended to be seen from across Montreal. The bells inside date to 1842 and 1849 and are known as Perseverance and Temperance.

Historic photo of Notre-Dame and Place d’Armes. (Montreal Gazette)

Notre-Dame’s interior was renovated a few decades after construction, having been designed by Victor Borgeau, who had also worked on St. Patrick’s and Mary, Queen of the World. A canopy in the sanctuary was removed, and the original finishes of gray and blue imitation marble were replaced by a polychromatic interior inspired by Paris’s Sainte-Chapelle. This work occurred between 1872 and 1879. The pulpit was completed in 1887, and an organ was installed in 1891.

Interior of the Chapelle du Sacre-Coeur. (Notre-Dame website)

In addition to the main space of the church, a smaller chapel was built to the rear in 1888, which is known as the Chapelle du Sacre-Coeur. It was designed by architects Perrault and Mesnard. This was to make a space more suitable for weddings and congregation meetings.

The chapel’s arson in 1978. (Notre-Dame website)

Modern history of Notre-Dame includes the arson of the Chapelle du Sacre-Coeur in 1978, which was subsequently rebuilt with a combination of historic and contemporary details, and Pope John Paul II’s raising of the church to a minor basilica. In 1989, it was dedicated as a National Historic Site of Canada.

Photos

Unfortunately, my pictures are really nothing like the perfectly framed shots devoid of people that are all over Wikipedia and Notre-Dame’s website. Not only was it crowded, the interior was rather dark and I had to crank up my ISO to have a reasonable exposure time, so a lot of the images are kind of crispy-looking.

**It’s also worth noting that in the coming interior photos, you will notice an orangeish tint. My camera’s light balance at the time was calibrated to a gray card in neon purple lighting for an old photography class project, which I failed to reset afterwards. I only noticed this discrepancy and rectified it months later.

Place d’Armes with the church in the background:

Probably the best (and only) photo I have of the whole facade:

This is a very sober interpretation of the Gothic Revival style, looking to Early Gothic precedents such as Notre-Dame de Paris. No fancy tracery, rose window, or crazy towers with huge steeples here. Two tall (216 feet) towers flank a simple central module, with three large portals and niches above.

I think one source mentioned that these portals are more informed by classical architecture than Gothic. Most Gothic and Gothic Revival churches have smaller portals with large wimpergs surrounding them, but here they’re really high and open up to a sort of vestibule inside:

Three statues lie above the portals in niches, which are some of the more detailed areas on the facade. From left to right, they are St. Joseph (Canada’s patron saint), the Virgin Mary (Montreal’s patron saint), and John the Baptist (Quebec’s patron saint).

One of the towers:

These are very simple, the only details being octagonal corner buttresses with pinnacles above, a crenellated parapet, and the pointed windows across. Here’s a closer look at one of them:

I liked this detailed tympanum window above the doors:

This nave is really special and much fancier than the bare exterior:

The Sainte-Chapelle influence is pretty clear in the multicolored interior and the stars along the blue roof. The nave is more than 78 feet high, pretty tall, but not the tallest a Gothic nave has reached. The balconies kind of obscure the side windows, and a larger rose window used to exist where the altarpiece is today, but it was removed after the congregation was blinded by the rising sun to the east. I think the darkness here is also related to the unusual finishes, as most Gothic churches are light masonry.

Looking back at the ceiling and organ:

Their woodwork and shape is just fantastic. The organ has 7,000 pipes and four keyboards.

I also like this little lamp in the middle of the roof and the surrounding skylight:

The entrances have a finely detailed pointed archway, and a fine window with stained glass fills the tympanum:

One of the bays leading to the aisles:

The vaulted roof is supported by bundled colonnettes, which also divide the bays. Interestingly, there are two levels of balcony seating, undoubtedly to help with capacity for Christmas/Easter Mass. I like the golden tracery on the face of the balconies.

The richly detailed pulpit:

Lots of very detailed Gothic tracery and statues above:

One of the stained-glass windows:

Uniquely, the stained glass across the church doesn’t depict biblical tales, rather, it shows the religious history of Montreal.

I don’t have a straight-on shot of the altarpiece, but this oblique one shows it in its entirety. This is one of the finest works of Gothic sculpture in North America.

The altar is supported by gilded columns, and golden objects lie beneath. (These aren’t the tabernacle, which is behind the altar, and I have no idea what they are for.)

The altarpiece was designed to form a theological lesson on the Eucharist through its sculpture. Each side has statues of saints in the manner of a Gothic church’s chapels radiating from the rear chevet.

This is such a finely detailed area that it’s almost overstimulating. Little pinnacles and buttresses everywhere, which overlap with the decorated walls behind, too.

The opposite side:

Central crucifix depicting Jesus’s crucifixion, with the Virgin Mary and St. John on either side of the cross, and Mary Magdalene weeping at Jesus’s feet: