SkyscraperPage Forum - MONTREAL | Le Drummond (2 towers)

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MONTREAL | Le Drummond (2 towers) | 25, 22 FLOORS

I recall an argument about this project when it was first announced. I whined that there was no street-front retail. Well now, I can stop complaining.:cool:

yeah, i was really really skeptical about this one, particularly given samcon's track record, but this is looking like some decent infil, at least in terms of function, IF the grade-level retail stays.

The quality of the retail (and materials of course) will make or break this project.

This project is really only positive because of the increase density it will bring. Otherwise, meh.

That said, it might be a good companion piece for the prospective condo towers due to go up on Rene-Levesque.

i don't know, street-level retail wall is pretty awesome, with the bishop and crescent projects (and i guess the rene-levesque towers) that whole concordia area from dorchester square to guy street will feel really rejuvenated. makes me really excited to think of how much cooler that part of downtown is going to get.

Quote:

Originally Posted by flight_from_kamakura (Post 5659771)

that whole concordia area from dorchester square to guy street will feel really rejuvenated.

As it should be. That part of town has a great, organic vibrancy to it. I feel once all the students move in to the seville projects it's really going to have a party village feel to it.

What is the location of the project? It needs to be marked on the Montreal project map.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dylan Leblanc (Post 5669209)

What is the location of the project? It needs to be marked on the Montreal project map.

On Drummond Street, between René-Lévesque and Sainte-Catherine (the huge parking lot). There are many highrises missing on the map. Are only skyscrapers included? Many 18 to 21 floor highrises are proposed or under construction.
A few projects (some include more than 1 tower):

Le triomphe: on Stanley near Sherbrooke Street
Le seville: on Sainte-Catherine between Lambert-Closse and Chomedey.
Griffix: On Wellington (North side) between Peel and Shannon. District Griffin phase 1 in front.
Lowney sur ville: Corner Shannon and William
District Griffin phase 2: The block surrounded by Ottawa, Séminaire, Basin and Rioux.
District Griffin phase 3: Corner Peel and William

I remember Drummond Street years back...half full of parking lots. And the notorious Drummond Court:
http://farm1.static.flickr.com/67/21...6478cd3594.jpg
SSP archives

Before/After:
http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6227/...361c97eaa7.jpg http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6113/...8136c13d_z.jpg
spacingmontreal.ca

^Fantastic!

I only have a vague recollection of that oddity, I was too young and never went to that part of town anyways before the year 2000, so it is fascinating to see the famous Drummond court.

http://www.aeconquebec.com/en/_media...treal_1931.jpg
http://www.aeconquebec.com/en/_media...treal_1931.jpg

Here it is before they butchered it in the 1950's. I think its the building squished on the right side of the frame. Problem is I have no idea which building is on the left side.

^ I think you're correct - the Drummond Court building is the one squished on the right.

By my estimate we are looking at Drummond St vaguely towards the north, on the block just south of de Maisonneuve. The part of the Drummond Court where the tunnel was later cut out would be at the far edge of the frame.

The building in the centre of the frame looks to me like it would be the 12-story annex to the old Drummond YMCA, built in 1930 according to this link:
http://archives.concordia.ca/drummond-ymca
(picture in the article is of the main YMCA building dating back to 1912. Looks like both were demolished around the same time in 2002).

This would explain the caption on the photo you posted.

Since we're at it, here is a picture of the constructionof the Peel station on the green line, directly underneath the newly opened de Maisonneuve (taken at Peel / de Maisonneuve looking west, probably circa 1962). The Drummond Court tunnel is clearly visible in the background, and the YMCA annex peeks out the left edge of the frame:
http://emdx.org/rail/metro/Images/ConstructionPeel.jpg
http://emdx.org/rail/metro/Images/ConstructionPeel.jpg

Thanks for the info. I actually remember visiting one of the rooms up on the 10th floor of the YMCA annex in 1999.

What a shame about the loss of these 2 buildings. It seems that the YMCA use to have a large presence in downtown. Now its isolated in that nondescript 1950's warehouse.

edit: there it is, the Norris building. I admire this buildings horizontality and fenestration. In this picture we can see the Drummond court.
http://archives.concordia.ca/sites/d...5-02-581.3.jpg
http://archives.concordia.ca/sites/d...5-02-581.3.jpg

I wonder how that part of town looked like and felt like in the 30's, with the gigantic Mont-Royal hotel down the street and about a dozen high-rises between 10-12 floors.

The old Y was interesting-looking on the outside, but hopelessly decrepit and inadequate on the inside. Whereas the new Y is dullsville on the outside, but state-of-the-art and awesomely huge on the inside. The Norris building is where I had my first undergrad lecture at Concordia...was also the library during my first 3 years as undergrad; home of the registrar's office, accounts payable, etc. Unbelievably shitty as a university library (consistently ranked as the very worst of any university in Canada)...literally you had to dodge the falling ceiling tiles. Getting out a book sometimes meant requesting days in advance...most of the collection was in the "stacks", and therefore inaccessible to lowly students. The library was at the uppermost floors....and if you thought that the escalators in the Hell builiding were bad, the norris escalators were NNNNNNNNEEEEEEVVVVVVVVVVEEEEEEEEERRRRRRRR operational.

Quote:

Norris Building
In the 1940s Sir George Williams College overflowed from the Y into nearby rented quarters. The space situation became critical after World War II, particularly when SGW received its university charter in 1948. A new building for SGW opened in 1956 to much celebration; a sixth floor was added in 1959. The $3 million building was clad in nondescript brick, coming flush to the sidewalk to provide the maximum classroom space. In 1964 it was named after Kenneth Norris, Principal of SGW 1936-56, under whom the first university degrees were granted in 1936. Unglamorous but modern and functional, the Norris Building was too small and it lacked specialized facilities essential to the kind of institution SGWU had become. Students spilled out into adjacent rented buildings. Concordia left the Norris Building in 1992 when the library moved to the long-awaited McConnell Building. For eight and a half years the Norris Building was a sad, empty, and deteriorating shell without a trace of the campus life that had filled the halls and sidewalks for nearly half a century. In February 2001 the completely renovated building re-opened as the new Downtown YMCA. The old Y building where SGW College had begun was sold to a developer, and it was demolished in 2002.

http://archives.concordia.ca/norris-building

Interesting Molsonex, as a Concordia grad myself its interesting to see how much that university has grown and improved in the last few decades. And no wonder some old timers raise an eyebrow when I told them I was at Concordia, wow.

Passing by yesterday, I saw prep work on the site. Also 2 smaller condo projects advancing well on Bishop. It's nice to see cranes everywhere in town.

My own photo of the site yesterday.

[IMG]http://img832.imageshack.us/img832/6...1209051257.jpg[/
IMG]

They're building the sale center.