The quintessential Montreal skyscraper, a canadian landmark and one of the most beautiful skyscrapers built in the 60's, Place Ville-Marie was finished in 1962 by prominent architect IM Pei and signaled Montreal and indeed Quebec's entrance into the modern age.
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Place Ville-Marie or 1, Place Ville-Marie (abbreviated as PVM; also previously called Royal Bank Tower due to its principal tenant) is a cruciform office tower built in the International style in 1962, arguably the most distinctive building in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. It is 188 m (617 ft) in height with 46 stories. It was built in the 1960s as the headquarters of the Royal Bank of Canada. Along with an underground shopping mall, it forms the nexus of Montreal's underground city, the world's largest, with indoor access to over 1,600 shops, restaurants, offices and businesses, as well as many of Montreal's metro stations, a suburban transportation terminal, and tunnels extending all over downtown. A rotating beacon on the rooftop (turning counter-clockwise) lights up at night, illuminating the surrounding sky with up to four white horizontal beams that can be seen as far as 50 km away.
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Here it is u/c along with its friend the CIBC tower, also finished in 1962.
August 7, 1961; Gar Lunney, photographer
Imtl.org
http://www.ccum.com/img/2_2_1_2chr.jpg
courtesy of Michel Jasmin
courtesy of Francis Picasa web albums.
With the CIBC Tower, PVM provided the catalyst for the downtown and business district to move from Old Montreal to St. Catherine Street. Place Ville Marie is still among the largest office space in Canada. The building has 32 elevators, 900 indoor parking spaces and 1,612 141 square feet
An interesting note, when first built it was the tallest skyscraper in all of Canada, it was taller than any thing in Chicago and was the 44th tallest building in the world. More than 40 years later it is now the 13th tallest building in Canada and the 547th tallest building in the world.
Please feel free to add your own pics of the old PVM, I got some but I'm too
drunk lazy to upload them right now.
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