Montreal In Pictures

August 05 2012

With it raining on and off (sometimes heavy) all day, I left it until tonight to head out with camera in hand to take some shots of a couple of buildings downtown.

I’ve noticed that Saint James United Church on rue Sainte Catherine has a wonderful stained glass window that is illuminated at night but never had the chance to get a picture of it before tonight. It ended up being quite fortunate that it had rained earlier as I was able to get the stained glass reflection in a puddle.

Saint James United Church
ISO 200 – 10mm – f20 – 8 sec (+2ev)

Saint James United Church
ISO 200 – 10mm – f20 – 25 sec (-2ev/0/+2ev)

La Baie is a department store located on rue Saint Catherine on the corner of avenue Union opposite Square Phillips. The building was constructed in 1891 and is built of red sandstone from Scotland. La Baie (a Hudson Bay company) has occupied the building since 1959, prior to which it was Morgans department store.

La Baie department store
ISO 200 – 14mm – f7.1 – 1/3 sec (-2ev/0/+2ev)

Since the Olympics are on and in celebration of a great weekend of medals for my old homeland Great Britain I decided to take a shot of the window display showcasing the official Canadian Olympic clothing line.

La Baie Olympic window display
ISO 200 – 11mm – f7.1 – 1/4 sec (-2ev/0/+2ev)

Just down the street on the corner of René Lévesque blvd and Côte du Beaver Hall is William Dow House that was constructed in 1861 for William Dow – a master brewer from Scotland. In 1905 the buidling was purchased by the Engineers’ Club who sold it in 1979 when it became a restaurant. Currently the building is home to the Sensio company – manufacturer of kitchen appliances. I actually had a job interview here a while back and the inside is as stunning as the outside – shame I didn’t get the job as it would be a great place to work.

William Dow House
ISO 200 – 10mm – f11 – 13 sec (-2ev/0/+2ev)

William Dow House
ISO 200 – 10mm – f11 – 6 sec (-2ev/0/+2ev)

The last building on my whirlwind tour of a couple of city blocks was Le Gesu church and Creativity Center. Le Gesu church dates back to 1865 and is named after a church in Rome where Saint Ignatius of Loyola, founder of the Jesuits is buried. The basement is a center for creativity that features a theater, conference/exhibition rooms and an artist workshop.