Place Ville Marie

Place Ville Marie
Former names	Royal Bank Tower
General information
Type	Office
Location	1 Place Ville Marie Montreal, Quebec
Coordinates	45°30′05″N 73°34′06″W / 45.5015°N 73.5684°W / 45.5015; -73.5684Coordinates: 45°30′05″N 73°34′06″W / 45.5015°N 73.5684°W / 45.5015; -73.5684
Construction started	1958
Completed	1962
Owner	Ivanhoe Cambridge/ SITQ
Management	Ivanhoe Cambridge/ SITQ
Height
Roof	188 m (617 ft)
Technical details
Floor count	47
Floor area	95,922 m2 (1,032,500 sq ft)
Lifts/elevators	32
Design and construction
Architect	I.M. Pei & Partners Dimitri Dimakopoulos
Structural engineer	Severud Associates
References
[1][2][3][4]

1 Place Ville Marie (PVM), formerly Royal Bank Tower taken from its anchor tenant, is a 188 m (617 ft) with 47-storey, cruciform office tower built in the International style in 1962, arguably the most distinctive building in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. 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 several metro stations in Montreal, 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.

Buildings

The name "Place Ville Marie" is often used to refer to the cruciform building only, but it also applies to four shorter office buildings which were built around it in 1963 and 1964, and to the urban plaza which lies on top of the largest section of the shopping promenade, and between the buildings. From a postal point of view the cruciform tower is "1, Place Ville Marie" and the lesser buildings around it are "2, Place Ville Marie" and so on. The buildings and the plaza have been given many facelifts over the years. In the latest facelift, much of the grey concrete and terrazzo of the plaza was covered with grass, flowers and shrubs. The complex has 2,700,000 sq ft (250,838 m²) of space and parking for about 900 vehicles. There are about 70 tenants with 3,000 employees. Via Rail has its headquarters in "3, Place Ville Marie".

Site

The location of Place Ville Marie was originally a vast railway trench gouged in the flank of Mount Royal between the southern portal of Canadian National Railway's Mount Royal Tunnel and Central Station. Most of the building was thus built over the tracks, requiring the structure to be more resistant to vibrations than normally required. As a result, it is the most earthquake-resistant office tower in Montreal.^{[citation needed]}

All of the land bounded by Cathcart Street, Dorchester Boulevard (now René Lévesque Boulevard), University Street and Mansfield Street was owned by the CNR, Railways, with the exception of the venerable St. James Club at the corner of Dorchester and University. Developer William Zeckendorf offered the club the top floor of the Place Ville Marie tower in exchange for their property, but was turned down.^[5]

History

Place Ville-Marie in 1967.

Place Ville Marie was one of the first designs of Henry N. Cobb and I. M. Pei, who was later to become a famous master of Modernist architecture. His design was controversial from the start given its proximity to many Montreal landmarks and the vast changes it would bring to the downtown core.

According to design historian Mark Pimlott, "The most radical aspect of the Place Ville Marie project was that nearly one-half of its 280,000 square metres area were beneath street level... deriving the obvious benefit of being protected from Montréal’s extreme winter and summer climate." Its vast network and multi-purpose is juxtaposed with a continuous interior "with episodes of civic gravity and monumentality".^[6]

At the time of construction, the main tower was known as the tallest skyscraper in the Commonwealth, and was the third tallest skyskraper on earth outside the United States. The equivalent of three floors was added late in the project to ensure that this building would not be topped by the neighboring Tour CIBC which was built at the same time.

Conceived and built at a time when Montreal was the Metropolis of Canada during the 1960s, the structure's largest occupant and anchor tenant was the Head Office of the Royal Bank of Canada, the country's largest bank. The central plaza became an important new public space in downtown Montreal, hosting an historic election rally for Pierre Elliott Trudeau during the 1968 federal election.^[5]

Developer William Zeckendorf founded Trizec Properties in order to build Place Ville Marie.^[7] He lost a bet to then Royal Bank President Earle McLaughlin, making payment in full (US$0.10) in an elaborate dime encased in acrylic. Exactly what the bet concerned is unknown.

In 1975 Air Canada's headquarters were at 1 Place Ville Marie.^[8]

Mayor Jean Drapeau chose the name himself. Ville-Marie was the name of the Catholic colony founded at what is now Montreal in 1642.^[9]

Legacy

On 12 March 1976 Canada Post issued 'Place Ville Marie and Notre-Dame Church' designed by Jean Mercier & Pierre Mercieron. The 1$ stamps are perforated 13.5 x 13 and were printed by British American Bank Note Company.^[10]

Other information

The penthouse was home to the Restaurant Club Lounge Altitude 737 restaurant and nightclub, that opened onto a rooftop terrace. The club, which was named for its elevation in feet from sea level, was one of the most famous in the city, and featured one of the most unusual dance floors, which twisted and turned around, and spanned two floors.^[11]

During the holiday season, a large artificial Christmas tree is installed in the central court. The plaza has a large fountain with programmed water jets and a big abstract sculpture at its center: "Feminine Landscape" by Gerald Gladstone.

The complex is currently owned by the Ivanhoe Cambridge, a division of the Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec (CDP Capital), who bought the building in March 2000 for CA$450 million.

Tenants

The Royal Bank of Canada has various offices in 1 Place Ville-Marie.

1 Place Ville-Marie

• Alcoa Canada^[12]
• CIBC Wood Gundy^[13]
• Deloitte^[14]
• Desjardins Securities^[15]
• Fraser Milner Casgrain LLP^[16]
• Gowlings^[17]
• Norton Rose Canada LLP^[18]
• RBC Capital Markets^[19]
• RBC Dexia^[20]
• RBC Dominion Securities^[21]
• RBC Wealth Management^[22]

2-3 Place Ville-Marie

• EA Montreal^[23]
• Via Rail^[24]

4 Place Ville-Marie

5 Place Ville-Marie

• Cogeco^[25]
• Hatch Ltd^[26]
• Business Development Bank of Canada

See also

• List of malls in Montreal
• List of tallest buildings in Montreal
• Montreal underground city malls
• Royal Bank Plaza in Toronto
• Tour de la Banque Royale

References

Further reading

• Gray, Jeremy. Montreal. Lonely Planet, 2004. p. 31 and p. 67.
• Frommer, Arthur. Montreal and Quebec City, 2007. p. 139, 153.
• McKay, Emma ed. Montreal and Quebec City. Colour guide, 2005. p. 34, 106.
• Ulysses Travel Guides (2007). Montreal. Montreal: Ulysses Travel Guides. p. 103. ISBN 978-2-89464-797-4. 

External links

• 1 Place Ville Marie Official website
• 1 Place Ville Marie at SITQ
• Place Ville Marie at Images Montreal