Square-Victoria-OACI (Montreal Metro)

Square-Victoria-OACI
Location Square Victoria, Montreal
Quebec, Canada
Coordinates 45°30′07″N 73°33′47″W / 45.50194°N 73.56306°WCoordinates: 45°30′07″N 73°33′47″W / 45.50194°N 73.56306°W
Operated by Société de transport de Montréal
Connections
  STM buses
  CIT du Sud-Ouest
Construction
Depth 16.2 metres (53 feet 2 inches), 31st deepest
Architect Irving Sager
History
Opened 6 February 1967
Traffic
Passengers 3,693,589 entrances in 2006, 22nd of 68
Services
Preceding station   Montreal Metro   Following station
toward Côte-Vertu
Orange Line
toward Montmorency

Square-Victoria-OACI is a station on the Orange Line of the Montreal Metro rapid transit system, operated by the Société de transport de Montréal (STM). It is located in Victoria Square near the Quartier international de Montréal district, in the borough of Ville-Marie in Montreal, Quebec, Canada.[1] The station opened on February 6, 1967, four months after most of the initial network, and was briefly the terminus of the Orange Line until Bonaventure station was opened a week later.

Overview

The station is a normal side platform station; its central mezzanine is connected to a very long tunnel running along Beaver Hall Hill and under Victoria Square, giving access to its various exits.

Each of the station's exits is connected to another building or buildings via the underground city. The Belmont exit is connected to and located in the 1080 Beaver Hall Hill building; the Viger exit is likewise connected to and located in the Bell Tower/National Bank complex. The Saint Antoine exit is a link in the main part of the underground city, linking the ICAO building with the Centre CDP Capital, while the rotunda at the south end of the tunnel, leading to the Saint Jacques exit, links the Tour de la Bourse with the Centre de commerce mondial.

The station was designed by Irving Sager. Two steel murals by Robert Savoie, entitled Kawari Kabuto, grace the walls of the great volume over the tunnel vaults, and a mural in the pedestrian tunnel to the northern entrances is by Jean-Paul Mousseau. The southern rotunda formerly contained a multimedia installation entitled Ars Natura, promoting Montreal's science museums.

Hector Guimard's entrance portico

The most famous artwork, however, is one of Hector Guimard's art nouveau entrance porticos from the Paris Métro. One of the few authentic installations on a rapid transit station outside Paris, it was given in 1967 by the RATP (Régie autonome des transports parisiens) to commemorate the collaboration of French and Canadian engineers in building the Metro. It is located within Victoria Square on the Saint Antoine entrance, one of only four open-air entrances on the network (the others are located at Place-Saint-Henri and Bonaventure stations). It was recently removed, completely restored, and reinstalled.

The station is equipped with the MétroVision information screens which displays news, commercials, and the time till the next train.

The station has 4 entrances:

605, Belmont Street
601, Viger Avenue
601 Saint Antoine Street W
605, Saint Jacques Street W

Origin of the name

This station is named for Victoria Square, which has existed since 1813; it was renamed for Queen Victoria on the occasion of the visit of the Prince of Wales (later King Edward VII) to Montreal in 1860.

Until the spring of 2014, the station was named Square-Victoria. In June 2014, the station was renamed Square-Victoria–OACI for the Organisation de l'aviation civile internationale (OACI), headquartered nearby.[2]

Connecting bus routes

Société de transport de Montréal
Route Service Times Map Schedule
36 Monk All-day Map Schedule
61 Wellington All-day, Weekends before 10:00PM Map Schedule
74 Bridge Rush Hours, Located one block west on University Map Schedule
75 de la Commune Rush Hours Map Schedule
168 Cité-du-Havre All-day Map Schedule
178 Pointe-Nord/Île-des-Soeurs Weekdays before 8:00PM, Located at University and De la Gauchetière Map Schedule
420 Express Notre-Dame-de-Grâce Weekdays before 8:00PM, Mornings towards Downtown and Afternoons from Downtown, Located at University and De la Gauchetière Map Schedule
CIT du Sud-Ouest
Route Service Times Map Schedule
1 Valleyfield - Montréal All-day N/A Schedule
28 Châteauguay - Downtown Montréal Rush Hour Monday-Friday N/A Schedule

Nearby points of interest

Connected via the underground city

Other

References

  1. ↑ Square-Victoria Metro Station
  2. ↑ Métro de Montréal: la station Square-Victoria change de nom, at the Huffington Post; published April 3, 2014; retrieved July 4, 2014

External links

Media related to Square-Victoria–OACI (Montreal Metro) at Wikimedia Commons