Police and Fire Station No 10, Montreal

I was interested to learn of the practice in Montreal, and perhaps elsewhere in Canada, of combining police stations and fire stations in a single building.

This is former Police and Firs Station No 10, now just Fire Station No 25. It was designed by Harold Edgar Shorey and Samuel Douglas Richie.

The doors to the separate police & fire sections of the building are marked with simple block letters. Police on one side of the building with the bays for the fire engines around the corner.

A frieze above the Police Station door depicts city buildings in one section and shipping activity it two others.


The building was constructed in 1931 and won first prize in the public building category from the Royal Architectural Institute of Canada the same year.



Reference:
Centre-Ville tour booklet, 10th World Congress on Art Deco, Montreal

Apartments, Montreal

Jones Heward Building, Montreal

Although the Jones Heward Building at 249-251 Rue Saint-Jacques, Montreal is an older building, the doors, according to Art Deco Montreal, date from 1929 and were designed by N I Chipman. Each of the doors has one of these plaques depicting a ship, a train, a factory and a gasometer.

I really like how the steam (at the top) and the pilot or cowcatcher, if you want to be agricultural about it, (at the bottom) have been represented.

Reference:
Buildings, Art Deco Montreal

Église St-Esprit (interior), Rosemont

Yesterday on my post about the Église St-Esprit, I promised to show you the interior of this gorgeous church.

The interior was designed by Toussait-Xénophon Renaud and some of the elements such as the flooring and the wall lights could be just as appropriate in a cinema. On the other hand the pews, seating on the main alter, the confessional boxes and the stained glass windows by Guido Nincheri do not belong anywhere but a church.

The pews at the front of the church are enclosed by these decorated Art Deco wooden panels.

Each of the panels and the door are stepped at the top. I can see floral or sunburst forms in the decoration and, of course, a cross on the door providing access to the seating. You can also see that elements of the seating are also decorated with similar Art Deco patterns.

Similar patterns have been used in the backs of these chairs and I think it looks more like a sunburst here.

Again we have a a representation of a cross on the large central chair which seems to employee more stepped forms than a chair can bear. Besides the stepped wooden slats below the seat, the armrest and the back supports are also stepped.

The confessionals are also decorated but not as richly as the other woodwork. The leadlight windows do make up for it though.

The ceiling is dominated by this cross. Again the stepped elements can be seen in this piece of decoration.

Suspended from the cross is a large round light fitting. Definitely could be found in a cinema or theatre foyer.

And if it wasn't for the cross below this wall light it could be in a cinema auditorium.

The flooring is no less spectacular. I suppose it is terazzo but I don't know. It could be part of a theatre foyer.

If you missed them on the way in, you can't miss the pair of lights on the way out. Perhaps about 2m tall standing each side of the door in the entrance foyer.

Reference:
Rosemont Tour Booklet, Tenth World Congress on Art Deco, Montreal, 2009

Église St-Esprit, Rosemont

This is the Église St-Esprit in Rosemont, Montreal. It was designed by architect Joseph-Églide-Césaire Daoust, constructed in 1932 and according to the Rosemont Tour Booklet from the Tenth World Congress on Art Deco in Montreal in 2009, it is the only pure Art Deco church in Canada.

I especially liked the stacking of geometric shapes on this part of the church buildings.

There are these angels on either side of the main doors.

The detailling is exquisite.

Finally there are three of these incredible lights in front of the church. Originally there were four of these bronze torchieres but one was stolen in 2003 and melted down after it had fallen over.

I haven't seen many churches in Canada I can well beleive that this is the most Art Deco of them.

But wait there's more. Tomorrow, I'll post some pictures of the interior.

Reference:
Rosemont Tour Booklet, Tenth World Congress on Art Deco, Montreal, 2009

Château Theatre, Rosemont

This is the Château Theatre in Montreal.

It was built in 1931 René Charbonneau as the main architect working with designers Emmanuel Briffa on the interior and Joseph Guardo on the exterior.

The central section of the facade features an arched form flanked by stone figures and including long-necked waterbirds, stylised floral decoration and a horizontal band with a wave motif.

There is minimal decoration on the side of the building but it does include reliefs of Comedy and Tragedy masks representative motifs of the performing arts.

Just about the only colour on the facade is in the form of two large stained-glass windows with a rising or setting sun. I like to think that even through Emmanuel Briffa worked on the interior of this theatre he may have brought some Egyptian inspiration from his work several years early on another Montreal cinema, the Empress Theatre, and influenced the design of these windows. The window on the left could show a rising sun against a seascape but the other window, to my mind, is a setting sun against the Giza pyramids. Egyptians considered the west, where the sun sets, as the realm of the dead and sited their pyramids and tombs accordingly.

Even if Briffa did not influence the design of the exterior of the Chateau Theatre, his work on the interior is glorious.

This is some of the detail from the foyer.

It is rich in decoration whereever you look. From the stylised sunburst to the stained glass built into the cornice and the central lamp fitting.

I'm not sure what the dark disk in the ceiling is, perhaps a vent of the remains of an earlier light fitting. Even so it has a quality look to it.

The detail above the exit of the main auditorium shows some more of the rich decoration in this theatre. Here you can see griffins an perhaps a winged horse alongside stylised floral forms.

I don't usually post photos with people in them but this one at the Château shows what we are like when we tour a building during a World Congress on Art Deco. And I had fun picking out some people. Our guides Jack & Jean-Yves. Colin from Montreal, Lynley from Melbourne, Peter from Sydney, Mick from Asheville, Rory from Los Angeles, Bob from Dublin, Robyn from Melbourne, Jo from London, Jan from Sydney and Mary from Dublin.

But forget about the people and have a look at the decoration on the wall and proscenium arch of this glorious theatre.

Reference:
Little Italy Tour Booklet, 10th World Congress on Art Deco, Montreal

Pharmacie Jean Coutu, Montreal

This branch of Pharmacie Jean Coutu on the corner of Ste Catherine and Metcalfe in downtown Montreal must have had a medical connection when it was first constructed. I say this because the decoration on the corners at the roofline feature caducei.

This view of the Metcalfe side of the building highlights the caduceus decoration at the corners and the diamond motifs below the windows.

Caisse Nationale d'Économie, Montreal

During the 10th World Congress on Art Deco in Montreal in May 2009 our tour of the 'old city' took us to the Caisse Nationale d'Économie building in Saint-Jacques Street West.

The building was designed by Payette and Crevier and constructed in 1938-39. There is simple decoration along the roofline and above the windows. The support for the flag pole is in the form of a fasces.

The dark panels in the centre of the façade between the widows are decorated with a stylised caduceus and almost look Victorian to me while the designs on the panels between the single windows on either side of the façade are striped back to very simple geometric patterns and look very modern.

The doors of the Caisse Nationale d'Économie building are lovely. This photo shows our tour guide Jean-Yves from the Art Deco Society of Montreal explaining the details and history of the building. You can see the interested faces of the group reflected in the glass panes.

A nice feature is the maple leaf included in the metalwork at the each corner of the doors.

As a matter of contrast, the building next door, on the right, was also contructed for the same company but twenty years later. That building was designed by Labelle, Duplessis and Dérome and has very little decoration illustrating the change from pre-WWII to post-WWII.

Reference:
Vieux-Montreal Tour Booklet, 10th World Congress on Art Deco, Montreal

Notman Photography and Associated Screen News Building, Montreal

The Notman Photography and Associated Screen News Building was designed by Ross & Macdonald in 1937.

William Notman was a Scottish-born photographer who established his photography business in Montreal in December 1856 and continued to take photographs until his death in November 1891. Two of his sons continued the firm with William taking over in 1891, working through until his death in 1913 and Charles, who joined his brother in 1894, maintaining the business until he sold it to Associated Screen News in 1935.

In 1995, the building became part of the nearby Holt Renfew department store also designed by Ross & Macdonald in 1937.

References:
William Notman, Dictionary of Canadian Biography Online
Centre-Ville Tour Booklet, 10th World Congress on Art Deco, Montreal, May 2009

École Louis-Hébert, Rosemont

The École Louis-Hébert is in the Rosemont area of Montreal. It was designed by Charles David and built in 1936.

The building is three storeys high with entrances and stairwells at each end sitting out from the rest of the façade. The upper floors are identified by bands of close-set windows while the ground floor has large windows with a large square pane in the centre with smaller panes arranged around the outside and separate, narrow windows on either side angled back into the wall. Raised bricks provide decoration at the outer edges of these windows.

The name of the school is spelt out in metal lettering across the façade above a relief of an open book.

The wings at either end of the building are decorated at the lower level by bold horizontal lines and each bears a relief above the windows.

The reliefs are by Alice Nolin and each is surrounded with a pattern consisting of raised bricks. One relief shows a man and a woman, labourers on the land, while the other shows a woman siting under a tree reading to two children.

Reference: Rosemont Tour Booklet, World Congress on Art Deco, Montreal, 2009

McDougall and Cowans Building, Montreal

The McDougall and Cowans Building (1929) sits on this narrow siter at the corner of Notre Dame and Saint Francois-Xavier Streets in Montreal. Architect, J Cecil McDougall designed the building squeezing seven storeys into its compact bulk.

The doorway on the Notre Dame facade is marked by two simple swirls in the concrete but has a much more elaborate Art Deco panel and light directly above the door.

At roof level, there are three large panels bearing reliefs by Henri Hébert.

Reference: Art Deco Montreal website