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Jacques Cartier Bridge Building

My award for the most underlooked gem in Montreal goes to the Jacques Cartier Bridge Building. Built around 1930, it looks like an art deco take on a Moroccan kasbah. The windows are laid out under arches, in straight lines of narrow arrow slits, and some in diagonals. There are even traditional rub el hizb, or Islamic eight-pointed stars, around the circular window at the top of the four corner towers. All of this is enlivened by the fact that building supports the bridge itself and twisting flyovers jut out from all sides, creating some dramatic panoramas at its base.

Bridge Building

What is it used for? The Middle Eastern appearance conjures up images of desert sands, and this building just happens to serve as a sand warehouse at the moment. Although this present use seems unfitting for such a monumental structure, it apparently has an interesting past as a Japanese and Italian internment facility during WWII.

Why do I claim this building is underlooked? Despite its considerable size and architectural merit, there is no mention of it on the Parc Jean Drapeau website or even the Jacques Cartier Bridge history page. There’s little about it in print as well. The structure is looking a little worn around the edges these days, with lots of broken windows. Here’s a building that could be spruced up and serve as much more than a sand warehouse but, like many areas on Ile Sainte-Hélène, it feels abandoned and uncared for.

Jacques Cartier Bridge Building(From Urbanphoto.)

1 Comment

Hey Patrick,
I really liked your close-up piece on the Jacques Cartier Bridge Building. I've seen it from a distance for many years but never up close. Even from afar, though, it always seemed exotic and magical. Its current role as a receptacle for sand does seem poetic in a way. Wouldn't it be wonderful, though, if it could be fixed up so people could actually go there and hang out?

Posted by Donald McGrath on September 7, 2010

Winter

ISSUE 42 Winter 2011

online content:

also in this issue:

  • Getting Plowed

    by Selena Ross In this exclusive investigative report from Montreal, Maisonneuve exposes the bid-rigging, violence and sabotage at the heart of an unlikely racket: snow removal.

  • In the House of the Lord

    by Andrea Bennett The Jackson Avenue Housing Co-operative and the religious battle raging in one of Canada's poorest neighbourhoods.

  • After Jack

    by Nick Taylor-Vaisey Last May, Jack Layton led the NDP to the greatest victory in party history. Now that he's gone, will the party be able to maintain its momentum?
  • [see full issue contents]