Place Ville Marie

Place Ville Marie, a photo by susanvg on Flickr.

Place Ville Marie is an iconic building in Montreal. It has been featured in my blog before. Last year it celebrated 50 years. In its time it was innovative, built over an underground shopping mall. Now you can walk through underground interconnected shopping malls, sometimes not quite knowing when you have moved from one to the next.

The searchlight on the top can be seen from a great distance, reminding planes that Montreal reaches up into the sky. But here buildings are not allowed to be built too high ruining views of "the mountain." I'm glad there are limits; I like the scale of Montreal.

Day 350: Place Ville Marie

Day 350: Place Ville Marie, originally uploaded by susanvg.

Place Ville Marie, built in a cruciform shape is Montreal's first really tall building, and the first to build an underground shopping mall. Now the downtown buildings and malls are connected through underground passageways. This is particularly appreciated when the mercury dips down and the winds crank up.

I walked about ten minutes from my house to the nearest metro station. From there I was able to take the metro to Bonaventure and walked underground to Place du Canada where I had a meeting. I chose to walk outside to my next destination (hence the photograph), but could have walked the few blocks to Place Ville Marie underground. There are over 30 km (20 mi) of climate-controlled tunnels - bright, often lined with shops - so that weather does not have to limit shoppers, movie-goers, museum lovers, diners.... I still prefer the above ground routes, but have appreciated this underground alternative on many occasions.

For a map of the Underground City

Day 137: Looking Downtown

Day 137: Looking Downtown, originally uploaded by susanvg.

Montreal has a vital downtown - safe, walkable and lively. This photograph was taken looking towards downtown from the south. The building on the right is Place Ville Marie, one of Montreal's first skyscrapers, built in 1962. It was also the first to house an underground shopping mall. Now Montreal has an underground life - miles of tunnels connect buildings and underground shopping centres - a boon to winter shoppers, movie goers, office workers... As they are also connected to the metro (our subway system) people can accomplish a lot without going outside.

We do not have huge skyscrapers as there is now a law regulating the height so that they do not overshadow our mountain. You can see one view of the city here - taken from the mountain looking slightly east of these buildings.