Opinion: At 50, Montreal's Place Ville Marie continues to shine
 

Interesting article on Montreal's grande-dame urban development complex.

Oh look!
Another Big Boring Box built in the 60's, what a shocker

BAH!

Posts containing blatant personal attacks will be deleted. People who make repeated personal attacks after being warned not to will find themselves no longer welcome to post.

Disagree with content all you want. Don't cross the line to personal attacks.

/mod

Anyway, my opinion is that since PVM was built during the era when plain boxes were still an interesting and relatively new concept in architecture, it shouldn't be viewed with the same scorn as buildings designed to repeat the trick 50 years later.

Whatever. We all understand that Tyler dislikes modern architecture, it isn't necessary for him to mention it in every corner of the forum.

Never liked PVM.

This forum includes an ignore function. You're welcome to use it. You are not welcome to make personal attacks.

Nice box, better than all those tacky postmodernist buildings you see lying around everywhere.

Agreed. Isn't that the definition of trolling? I find it interesting that many of the aficionados of modern architecture are able to find value in revivalist architecture, but classicists can't do the same for modernism. Interesting but unsurprising.

Long been one of my favourite buildings in the country. It's one of the things I think of first when it comes to Montreal.

'It participates actively in both the street life of Montreal and the nightlife of its skyline. Inspiring us to imagine a better world, PVM has become both symbol and myth and by its very presence nurtures our daily lives.'


I am not sure how it actively participates in the street life of Montreal, considering the streets surrounding PVM are depressing dead zones..... 'nurtures our daily lives'.... ok....

Personally, I have never been a huge fan of the building. But it is emblematic of modern Montreal, and was one of the tallest buildings in the world outside of NYC when built. The underground shopping complex was revolutionary in its day, and still is perhaps the most successful portion of the world's largest contiguous underground city.

Not sure I agree with this: while it is very busy on weekdays from 9 to 5, it's pretty much dead on evenings and weekends, contrarily to the Centre Eaton, for example.

I've never been to Montreal, and so just know this building from Google Street View.

It does seem very much in the spirit of the original WTC, at least in terms of exteriors. I like international style architecture, but the street-level and pedestrian treatment is often so lacking.

That's I.M. Pei! What's next, calling Paris boring because it's so uniform? Place Ville-Marie is almost flawless.

Calling it a box is a bit odd. How many cruciform boxes have you seen?

Anyway, I like it. It's definitely a Montreal landmark, perhaps more so at night, with its powerful rotating spotlight that can be seen for many miles.

I prefer Tour de la Bourse, which will soon also have its 50th anniversary though. Still, PVM is probably the most iconic of the currently 5 buildings over 600 feet in the city.

It was definitely not just another boring box; the cruciform layout guaranteed that.

When I was a kid I took a picture of this building looking straight up the face on the south side. It ended up being a slide that when projected on the ceiling looked amazingly real.

Wish I still had it.

Just the fact that PVM has a cruciform footprint makes it unique. You have a relatively conservatively-sized footprint for its shape, yet more offices with sunlight coming in.
The rotating light on top is pretty cool (this was probably inspired by the Eiffel Tower's).