The five-storey Montreal City Hall (French: Hôtel de Ville de Montréal) is the work of architects Henri-Maurice Perrault and Alexander Cowper Hutchison, and was built between 1872 and 1878 in the Second Empire style. It is located in Old Montreal

Old Montreal

Old Montreal is the oldest area in the city of Montreal, Quebec, Canada, dating back to New France. Located in the borough of Ville-Marie, the area is bordered on the west by McGill St., on the north by Ruelle des Fortifications, on the east by Berri St. and on the south by the Saint Lawrence River...

, between Place Jacques-Cartier

Place Jacques-Cartier

Place Jacques-Cartier is a square located in Old Montreal in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, and an entrance to the Old Port of Montreal.- Overview :...

 and the Champ de Mars

Champ de Mars, Montreal

Champ de Mars is a public park in Old Montreal quarter of Montreal, Quebec, Canada.Formerly a military parade ground, the park had previously been the site of Montreal's fortifications, which were demolished at the beginning of the 19th century soon after Montreal City Hall and the old courthouse...

, at 275 Notre-Dame Street

Notre-Dame Street

Notre-Dame Street is a historic east-west street located in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. It runs parallel to the Saint Lawrence River, from the eastern tip of the island to Lachine . In French, it is known as rue Notre-Dame....

 East. The closest metro station is Champ-de-Mars

Champ-de-Mars (Montreal Metro)

Champ-de-Mars is a station on the Orange Line of the Montreal Metro rapid transit system, operated by the Société de transport de Montréal . It is located in Old Montreal in the borough of Ville-Marie in Montreal, Quebec, Canada...

.

As one of the best examples of the Second Empire style in Canada, and the first city hall

Seat of local government

In local government, a city hall, town hall or a municipal building or civic centre, is the chief administrative building of a city...

 to have been constructed in the country solely for municipal administration, it was designated a National Historic Site in Canada in 1984.

History and architecture

Construction on the building began in 1872 and was completed in 1878. The building was gutted by fire in March 1922, leaving only the outer wall and destroying much of the city's historic records. The architect Louis Parant was commissioned for the reconstruction, who decided to build an entirely new building with a self-supporting steel structure built inside the shell of the ruins. This new building was modelled after the city hall of the French city of Tours

Tours

Tours is a city in central France, the capital of the Indre-et-Loire department.It is located on the lower reaches of the river Loire, between Orléans and the Atlantic coast. Touraine, the region around Tours, is known for its wines, the alleged perfection of its local spoken French, and for the...

. Other changes included a remodelling of the Mansard roof

Mansard roof

A mansard or mansard roof is a four-sided gambrel-style hip roof characterized by two slopes on each of its sides with the lower slope at a steeper angle than the upper that is punctured by dormer windows. The roof creates an additional floor of habitable space, such as a garret...

 into a new Beaux-Arts inspired model, with a copper roof instead of the original slate tiles.

In 1967, from this building's balcony Charles de Gaulle

Charles de Gaulle

Charles André Joseph Marie de Gaulle was a French general and statesman who led the Free French Forces during World War II. He later founded the French Fifth Republic in 1958 and served as its first President from 1959 to 1969....

, then president of France

France

The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...

, gave his Vive le Québec libre speech

Vive le Québec libre speech

"Vive le Québec libre !" was a controversial phrase in a speech delivered by French president Charles de Gaulle in Montreal on July 24, 1967.De Gaulle was in Canada on an official visit under the pretext of attending Expo 67...

.

External links

• Rémillard, Francois. Montreal architecture: A Guide to Styles and Buildings. Montreal: Meridian Press, 1990.
• Montreal City Hall—Hôtel de ville de Montréal