Montreal In Pictures

August 15 2012

When I was shooting the Windsor station a few days ago I noticed that they had begun to break ground on the new Tour des Canadiens condominium tower next to the Bell Center.

I don’t know if it was looking at the late 19th Century Montreal images yesterday by Alexander Henderson, but I wanted to take some shots of the area now before the urban landscape is re-shaped. Who knows, maybe McCord will be exhibiting the pics below in 2112 😉

But before I get to the new project, just across the road from the Bell Center is one of my favorite modern office towers in Montreal – the IBM tower which at 47 floors high is about the same as what the Tour des Canadiens will be.

The IBM tower was designed by skyscraper design company Kohn Pedersen Fox Associates and completed in 1992. Although the tower is generally known as the IBM Marathon building, the official name is 1250 René-Lévesque. An interesting fact is that this is the only tower in Montreal that was designed by an architectural company specializing in skyscrapers – hopefully not another reason to be worried about blocks of concrete falling from the sky.

The IBM Tower
ISO 400 – 10mm – f9 – 1/400 sec (-2ev/0/+2ev)

The IBM Tower
ISO 400 – 20mm – f9 – 1/320 sec (-2ev/0/+2ev)

The IBM Tower
ISO 400 – 13mm – f9 – 1/500 sec (-2ev/0/+2ev)

The IBM Tower
ISO 400 – 10mm – f5 – 1/2500 sec(-2ev/0/+2ev)

Outdoor seating area at the IBM tower
ISO 400 – 10mm – f16 – 1/25 sec (-2ev/0/+2ev)

It’s been a while since I did a floating building and couldn’t resist trying the effect on the IBM tower. Probably not the best angle but it has given me an idea for when I pass by again to get another shot.

IBM Tower ship

Okay, back to the new condo development.

At 48 floors the Tour des Canadiens will be the tallest condo tower in Montreal. Costing an estimated $175-million the building will offer 534 living units, sports bar, common areas and parking.

The Tour des Canadiens will be located at Centennial Place which was created in 2008 to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the famed hockey club. In a press release, Canadiens’ owner Geoff Molson indicated that the hockey legends statues as well as the bricks purchased by fans to commemorate the Montreal Canadiens centennial will be removed from Centennial Place and carefully stored elsewhere during the construction period. These valuable testimonials will once again be accessible to the public at the end of construction within the environs of the new building.

Location for the new Tour des Canadiens
ISO 400 – 20mm – f16 – 1/200 sec

Construction of the sales office is well underway.

Location for the new Tour des Canadiens
ISO 400 – 10mm – f5 – 1/1600 sec

Here is an artist impression of the tower slated for completion in 2015…Condo prices are reported to start at $250,000 – I can’t think of a better address for a Habs fan – the home games being just a short elevator ride away 😉 Unfortunately the design doesn’t do a lot for me.