JeffReuben
Édifice des Tramways Montréal façade
Facade detail on Édifice des Tramways (Tramways Building), one of Montreal’s first Art Deco skyscrapers, opened June 1929.
Designed by Montreal architects Ross & Macdonald, likely with an eye on the work of New York architects such as Ralph Walker who had finished the pioneering Barclay-Vesey Building for the New York Telephone Company in 1926.
Tramways was originally a prominent corner building located across the street from a major tram station - in fact it was initially named the Terminal Building before Montreal Tramways Co. purchased it in early 1930 as it neared completion. Trams in Montreal stopped running in the late ‘50s, the terminal was demolished in 1980, and the successor to the tram company moved out of the office building ca. 1993. With the expansion of the neighboring convention centre in the early 2000s, it’s now a midblock building attached to said convention facility. It’s not quite facadism, but there were extensive interior alterations.
It’s lost some of its lustre, but the remaining street facade along rue Saint Antoine Ouest retains its Art Deco magic.
For more information on this and other Art Deco buildings in and around Downtown Montreal, please see my article (in French) on the travel blog LM Le Quebec:
lmlequebec.ca/art-deco-au-centre-ville-de-montreal-quebec/
Édifice des Tramways Montréal façade
Facade detail on Édifice des Tramways (Tramways Building), one of Montreal’s first Art Deco skyscrapers, opened June 1929.
Designed by Montreal architects Ross & Macdonald, likely with an eye on the work of New York architects such as Ralph Walker who had finished the pioneering Barclay-Vesey Building for the New York Telephone Company in 1926.
Tramways was originally a prominent corner building located across the street from a major tram station - in fact it was initially named the Terminal Building before Montreal Tramways Co. purchased it in early 1930 as it neared completion. Trams in Montreal stopped running in the late ‘50s, the terminal was demolished in 1980, and the successor to the tram company moved out of the office building ca. 1993. With the expansion of the neighboring convention centre in the early 2000s, it’s now a midblock building attached to said convention facility. It’s not quite facadism, but there were extensive interior alterations.
It’s lost some of its lustre, but the remaining street facade along rue Saint Antoine Ouest retains its Art Deco magic.
For more information on this and other Art Deco buildings in and around Downtown Montreal, please see my article (in French) on the travel blog LM Le Quebec:
lmlequebec.ca/art-deco-au-centre-ville-de-montreal-quebec/