René Lévesque Boulevard
Encyclopedia
Montreal
Montreal is a city in Canada. It is the largest city in the province of Quebec, the second-largest city in Canada and the seventh largest in North America...
, Quebec
Quebec
Quebec or is a province in east-central Canada. It is the only Canadian province with a predominantly French-speaking population and the only one whose sole official language is French at the provincial level....
, Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
.
It is a main east-west thoroughfare passing through the downtown core in the borough of Ville-Marie. The street begins on the west at Atwater Avenue (though see below) and continues until it merges with Notre Dame Street East just east of Parthenais St. This boulevard is named after former sovereigntist Quebec Premier
Premier of Quebec
The Premier of Quebec is the first minister of the Canadian province of Quebec. The Premier is the province's head of government and his title is Premier and President of the Executive Council....
René Lévesque
René Lévesque
René Lévesque was a reporter, a minister of the government of Quebec, , the founder of the Parti Québécois political party and the 23rd Premier of Quebec...
.
Much of René Lévesque Boulevard is lined with highrise office towers. Notable structures bordering René Lévesque Boulevard include, from west to east, the Montreal Children's Hospital
Montreal Children's Hospital
The Montreal Children's Hospital is a tertiary care pediatric teaching Hospital affiliated with the McGill University Health Centre. It is also the only pediatric facility serving the McGill Réseau Universitaire Intégré Santé...
, the Canadian Centre for Architecture
Canadian Centre for Architecture
The Canadian Centre for Architecture is a museum of architecture and research centre in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Phyllis Lambert is the Founding Director and Chair of the Board of Trustees, and Mirko Zardini is the Director and Chief Curator....
, the Cité du commerce électronique
Cité du commerce électronique
Cité du commerce électronique is a twin tower office complex located in downtown Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Construction of the first phase tower at 1350 René-Lévesque Boulevard, with 27 floors, was completed in 2003 with the primary tenant CGI Group occupying most of the building...
, 1250 René-Lévesque
1250 René-Lévesque
1250 Boulevard René-Lévesque, also known as La Tour IBM-Marathon, is a , 47-story skyscraper in Montreal, Quebec, Canada.The building was designed by Kohn Pedersen Fox Associates for IBM Canada and Marathon Realty, hence the former name "IBM-Marathon." It is now named for its address at 1250 René...
, Tour CIBC
Tour CIBC
La Tour CIBC is a forty-five-storey skyscraper in Montreal, Quebec. With the communications antenna on the roof, the total height is . The International Style office tower was built by Peter Dickinson, Ross, Fish, Duschenes and Barrett and was the city's tallest building from 1962 to 1963...
, Mary, Queen of the World Cathedral
Mary, Queen of the World Cathedral
The Cathedral-Basilica of Mary, Queen of the World in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, is the seat of the Roman Catholic archdiocese of Montreal. It is the third largest church in Quebec after St. Joseph's Oratory and the Basilica of Sainte-Anne-de-Beaupré east of Quebec City...
, the Queen Elizabeth Hotel
Queen Elizabeth Hotel
The Queen Elizabeth Hotel is a grand hotel in Montreal, Quebec. Completed in 1958, it was built by the Canadian National Railway, but was later sold to Canadian Pacific Hotels, now Fairmont Hotels and Resorts...
, Place Ville-Marie
Place Ville-Marie
1 Place Ville-Marie , formerly Royal Bank Tower taken from its anchor tenant, is a with 47-storey, cruciform office tower built in the International style in 1962, arguably the most distinctive building in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. It was built in the 1960s as the headquarters of the Royal Bank of...
, Central Station, Tour Telus
Tour Telus
Tour Telus is an office building at 630 René Lévesque Boulevard West in Montreal. It was built for Canadian Industries Limited from 1960 to 1962, given the name CIL House. Designed by architect Gordon Bunshaft from the architectural firm Skidmore, Owings and Merrill with local architects...
, St. Patrick's Basilica, Complexe Desjardins
Complexe Desjardins
Complexe Desjardins is a mixed-use office, hotel, and shopping mall complex located in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. The project was designed to develop the eastern end of downtown Montreal, it is located in the quadrilateral formed by Saint Catherine, Saint-Urbain, and Jeanne Mance streets, and René...
, Complexe Guy-Favreau
Complexe Guy-Favreau
Complexe Guy-Favreau is a twelve storey building complex containing Canadian government offices built in 1984. It is located at 200 René Lévesque Boulevard in Ville-Marie, Montréal and extends over a six acre plot of land, formerly part of the Montreal Chinatown...
, Hydro-Québec Building, UQAM and the Maison Radio-Canada
Maison Radio-Canada
Maison Radio-Canada is a skyscraper in Montreal, constructed in 1973 as a home for the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation's operations in Montreal....
. Former structures on the street include the Laurentian Hotel
Laurentian Hotel
The Laurentian Hotel was a 1000-room hotel on Dorchester Street, now René Lévesque Boulevard, in Montreal. The hotel was built in 1948 and demolished in 1978...
and a residential area razed to make way for the unbuilt Overdale
Overdale, Montreal
Overdale was a small residential district in downtown Montreal which became a famous symbol of the struggle between urban conservationists and land developers....
residential project.
The street separates the adjacent Dorchester
Dorchester Square
Dorchester Square is a large urban square in downtown Montreal. Together with Place du Canada, the area is just over 21,000 m2 or 2.1 ha of manicured and protected urban parkland bordered by René Lévesque Boulevard to the south, Peel Street to the west, Metcalfe to the east and Dominion Square to...
and Place du Canada
Place du Canada
Place du Canada is a large urban square in downtown Montreal.- Overview :At it is slightly larger than the adjacent Dorchester Square, with a more varied topography due to a downward slope towards De la Gauchetière Street...
squares.
Dorchester
From the time of its formal naming in 1844, the street was known as "Dorchester Boulevard" in honour of Guy Carleton, 1st Baron DorchesterGuy Carleton, 1st Baron Dorchester
Guy Carleton, 1st Baron Dorchester, KB , known between 1776 and 1786 as Sir Guy Carleton, was an Irish-British soldier and administrator...
(1724–1808), Governor
Governor
A governor is a governing official, usually the executive of a non-sovereign level of government, ranking under the head of state...
of the Province of Quebec
Province of Quebec (1763-1791)
The Province of Quebec was a colony in North America created by Great Britain after the Seven Years' War. Great Britain acquired Canada by the Treaty of Paris when King Louis XV of France and his advisors chose to keep the territory of Guadeloupe for its valuable sugar crops instead of New France...
and Governor General of Canada
Governor General of Canada
The Governor General of Canada is the federal viceregal representative of the Canadian monarch, Queen Elizabeth II...
.
Shortly after Jean Drapeau
Jean Drapeau
Jean Drapeau, was a Canadian lawyer and politician who served as mayor of Montreal from 1954 to 1957 and 1960 to 1986...
was elected mayor in 1954, his administration ordered the destruction of hundreds of buildings along Dorchester. In 1955, the street was widened into an eight-lane boulevard.
The name was changed in 1987 after the death of Quebec premier
Premier of Quebec
The Premier of Quebec is the first minister of the Canadian province of Quebec. The Premier is the province's head of government and his title is Premier and President of the Executive Council....
René Lévesque
René Lévesque
René Lévesque was a reporter, a minister of the government of Quebec, , the founder of the Parti Québécois political party and the 23rd Premier of Quebec...
. A portion of the thoroughfare located in the largely anglophone city of Westmount
Westmount, Quebec
Westmount is a city on the Island of Montreal, an enclave of the city of Montreal, in southwestern Quebec, Canada; pop. 20,494; area 4.02 km²; population density of 5,092.56 inhabitants/km²....
, between Clarke and Atwater, retains the name "Boulevard Dorchester", as does a portion in the mainly French-speaking Montréal-Est
Montréal-Est, Quebec
Montreal East , is a town in southwestern Quebec, Canada on the island of Montreal, formerly part of the borough of Rivière-des-Prairies–Pointe-aux-Trembles–Montréal-Est. Montreal-Est has consistently been the home to many large oil refineries since 1915.Montreal-Est was originally founded in 1910...
, where it is known as " Dorchester Street".