Montreal Underground
A rainy day relocates a reunion to the interior city
The plan was to walk over the mountain, stopping at the grave sites of both of our parents. Somehow they had miraculously landed almost next door to each other in the 165 acre, 173 year old Mount Royal Cemetery. Larry and I have been friends since grade 7, Preville Elementary and then through high school. I moved to Toronto first to find work, and Larry followed soon after to attend school at Seneca College. For a while we shared an apartment in Don Mills. Our first real home away from home.
But the best laid plans can be squashed by bad weather, and the walk over the mountain was not to be. Fortunately, we had a plan B and given the deluge that followed, it was a surprisingly good one. But I’m getting ahead of myself. First I had to get there.
Le Metro
I started my journey by parking my car far from downtown Montreal near the Namur subway station on Rue Jean Talon and Decarie Expressway in Cotes des Neiges. Free weekend parking on the far side of Decarie makes this an ideal access point to the Montreal subway system from the west end.
A full day pass cost me 11 dollars (I forgot to ask for the seniors discount) and gave me full day access to the entire system with as many transfers, exits and re-entries to and from the system as I wanted. Meeting up with my friends near the Parc station would mean jumping off the orange line at Snowdon and taking the blue line to Parc. I paused momentarioly at Snowdon, thinking that this was where my parents had their first apartment when they moved to Montreal. The often talked about living next door to the Snowdon Movie Theater and being able to hear the movies through the walls.
After a short visit, we decided a climb over the mountain was ill advised due to the weather. The rain started in earnest as we left Sylvie’s apartment and headed for Le Metro. We re-traced my route on the blue line back to Snowdon, but this time turned in the direction of the downtown and Montmorency.
The colour schemed lines are easy to follow and the new cars on the orange line in particular are very well marked with electronic signage. Colour use throughout the subway system is excellent.
Now I’m not exactly sure where we ended up getting off. My photos suggest a transfer at Lionel-Groux to the green line at Honoré-Beaugrand, but which stop we departed from to begin our walk, I couldn’t exactly say. My goal was to visit with my friends and practice some street photography. I left the actual route completely up to them. It was a unique opportunity for this small town boy.
Edit: Larry tells me (see comments below) that we got off at Peel and entered the Underground City at the Peel Metro station.
Our destination was somewhere in the vast area known as La ville souterraine (The Underground City) formed by a network of more than 30 kilometers of underground passages, connecting shopping malls, high rise business and residential complexes, with connecting subway and train stations and busy downtown streets in the heart of La Ville de Montréal.
My hosts for this excursion, as I have mentioned above, were Larry and Sylvie. They would soon learn I would be buzzing around them, snapping away like some possessed photographer bee. Early in the day, they were already looking at me bemusedly and wondering perhaps if I am always like this? Well, only when I am overloaded by visual stimuli.
The Interior City
The underground is a maze of long and winding pedestrian corridors, escalators, stairs, mezzanines, atriums, multi-level open spaces many with skylights drawing in daylight from above. There were shopping complexes, and gathering places such as fountains and eating courts. Public washrooms, luxury hotels. The underground city, or perhaps more appropriately, the interior city, is filled with public art and design, sculpture, photography, painting, light, advertising and sprinkled throughout with humans of all ages and descriptions. It is a cosmopolitan beehive of activity.
On this Sunday, there was little of the bustle of weekday commuters but lots of folks strolling away from the rain soaked streets outside. Much of the interior city exists at street level with doors offering access to and from downtown streets. Many people live, work and play in this interior city away from Montreal’s harsh winters and hot humid summers.
Without my guides, I would have been hopelessly lost. This largely because I was so sidetracked by all the design. Design is everywhere. Nothing is random or haphazard.
My mind worked overtime looking at everything around us. A cornucopia of visual ideas come to life in a labyrinth of indoor spaces. So many clever ideas packed into every imaginable space.
The following three shots show the atrium at Les Cours Mont-Royal. Formerly the Mount Royal Hotel and from 1951, the Sheraton-Mt. Royal, it was a ten-storey, 1036-room hotel, the largest in the British Empire when it opened in 1922. The hotel closed in 1984 and reopened in 1988 after the interior was gutted and the current mixed use complex of luxury condominiums and business offices appeared above a shopping mall on it’s lower and basement levels.
The shopping area is organized around four large courts, hence the French name "Les Cours." The original hotel employed the Beaux-Arts style of architecture featured in many of the city’s most famous landmarks. Those influences are carried down to the lower levels today.
Under the main skylight there are six bird-human sculptures by Inuk artist David Ruben Piqtoukun. Les Cours Mont-Royal Shopping Centre is mainly composed of fashion retailers, with a few additional features and services including Montreal's largest spa (Spa Diva), a medical clinic (Les Cours Medical Centre) and a catwalk for fashion shows and other events.
A sweeping staircase descends from the spa above. Drama and scale, vertical and horizontal spaces, sweeping lines and geometric shapes. Every inch of these spaces are touched by a draftsman’s pen employing thoughtful consideration of line, form and function. It is a cacophony of style but somehow comes together as a cohesive whole.
Retail therapy is fully integrated with walking and chatting. Stores welcome passerbys, although the day I was there, most were shut “pour le dimanche.” I got the impression this is 9 to 5 culture designed around an old fashioned notion of the business work week.
Photographic opportunities presented themselves around each corner. I could easily have stopped anywhere and concentrated on any space for hours, but we kept moving.
I had to remind myself to look up while in the interior city. While some corridors are low to the ground, spaces often open to great volumes of conditioned air sometimes many stories high. I learned over the course of the day that Underground Montreal is just a part of it. That wherever possible, architects had done their best to bring the outside in filling spaces with natural light.
Sylvie needed her coffee, but with that in hand, everything was okay. Let’s keep going.
Much of the interior decoration is corporate. Brands look for opportunities to present their corporate identities to passerbys. W Montreal is a luxury hotel.
I bounced like a pinball through the corridors, framing, shooting and catching up my hosts. I took so many shots, and have tried to limit what I show here so as not to overwhelm or bore you. But everywhere I went I was on the lookout.
Some of the art that lines the walls seemed disconnected from any known purpose. Like the crows nest above, which I spotted behind a cut hole in a bit of thick acrylic panelling lining one of the concourse walls. Perhaps a designed by committee job reflecting the city’s maritime heritage.
As the rain continued unabated, I only ventured outside once and that was to see The Ring. Designed by Claude Cormier + associes and erected in 2022, the art installation is designed to attract attention to itself and make the city centre a focus point of city life. The 100 foot wide, 50,000 pound, $5 million dollar ring hovers over the staircase of Place Ville Marie’s Esplanade.
“As a bold and lasting gesture for downtown Montreal, The Ring is part of the iconic axis of McGill College Avenue, where Place Ville Marie, McGill University, the former Royal Victoria Hospital and Mount Royal Park line up, revealing more than 200 years of our city’s history,” Cormier said.
Despite the rain, or perhaps in defiance to it, a quick pickup game was being played on the temporary hoop court set up for some failed due to weather beer sponsored event. The rain was cold and depressing, but refuge was only a few steps away.
Above, the Scottish castle named "Ravenscrag" features a crow's nest near the top of the frame. Completed in 1863 by Hugh Allan, it was inspired by Italian Renaissance architecture. From an imposing central tower, Allan was apparently able to monitor the activity of his ships in the harbor.
Even the washrooms here are spectacular
A woman emerging from the ladies, turns back waiting for her companion. I myself have just experienced the touch free futurism of the men’s facilities, equally bathed in modernist light. F and H mark the respective washrooms pour les femmes et les hommes.
The hand washing station in the men’s washroom below was intuitive and impressive. Touchless dispensing of water, soap and hot air to dry your hands when you’re done. No paper or towel needed. The outdated sign showing how to wash your hands and keep the faucets clean, seemed antiquated by comparison. Strangely, this oddity was in English only. Was it a jab at uneducated Englishmen I wondered?
“Sacrebleu; we just know they’re going to want to touch the faucet.”
Statue of Amphitrite, wife of Poseidon - Montreal World Trade Centre
At one point, we turned a corner and were greeted unexpectedly by a magnificent atrium perhaps 7 stories high bounded by historic late 19th century buildings on either side belonging to the Bank of Nova Scotia and Canada Steamship Lines.
The light in this interior space was absolutely gorgeous and was clearly a favorite of wedding parties and photographers alike. To the left is former Fortification Lane, a roadway that included part of the city's colonial defensive walls. I didn’t see it, but the complex supposedly hosts a piece of the Berlin Wall.
As beautiful for the quality of the interior lighting as for its blend of architectural styles and impressive public art, the interior space is dominated by a large fountain by French architect and sculptor Dieudonné-Barthélemy Guibal (1699–1757), donated to the city of Montreal in 1992. This is paired with giant street lamps and a large reflecting pond with a thin layer of water spilling imperceptibly over its edges. It was hard not to get caught up in the magic of it all. For these couples, especially on this day, this interior space must be a godsend faced with the pouring rain outside. The young couple below kiss for the cameras, official or not.
Everyone has their phones and cameras out in this space. There is an urge to grab a piece of this and take it home to show others.
More than one wedding
At first glance, I felt some concern for the bride below who stood pensively to one side seemingly all alone. I did not see the groom.
She held her bouquet to her side under my gaze and the light of the giant street lamps. To me she seemed almost too beautiful for words.
And then suddenly her face lit up, as she was joined by her betrothed. Seems it was just a break in the action.
Her husband took her hand and started walking towards me. The two of them caught up in blissful reverie. I smiled back happy to acknowledge their new union. So many eyes in the big room following their passage through it.
Up the stairs above the statue of Amphitrite, a bridesmaid waits for instructions as yet another photographer gathers the wedding party for the next shot. Everywhere you looked, there was joy and celebration. It was quite intoxicating.
Before we left this place I grabbed one more shot by the fountain, this one of Sylvie and Larry, caught up in their own reverie in the presence of Amphitrite. And then it was time to move on.
Street in the Underground
Throughout the day, I kept a watch out for street subjects. Being inside, probably made the legality of most of this street photography questionable, as most spaces were likely more corporate than public, but despite the unobtrusive presence of security throughout, I was never asked to put my camera away or even looked at with questioning eyes.
In my own mind, I wonder about the thorny issue of posting images of children online. What is acceptable? Does anything put anyone at risk? But there was one family that I was totally fascinated with and could not hold back. They appeared at a fountain near a food court. A mother, father and their three children. The fountain was putting on a show and the two little ones absolutely loved it. It shot water high into the air and it struck wonder in them every time. That’s what these two youngsters are looking at.
The elder daughter however kept checking her phone. Something was going on and she and her mother kept looking at the girl’s phone and making faces. I took quite a few pictures of the family captivated by how they wore their emotions on the surface. The young lady seemed to have resigned herself to things not going exactly as she had planned. One moment a frown, the next laughing and filled with joy, enjoying this moment with her family. Her mother watched attentively as her daughter displayed this wide range of emotions. As matriarch, her experience and devotion surely are foundations upon which this family exists. The father too, was engaged and attentive. Their coordinated traditional clothing made me wonder if they had been part of a church service or cultural event. Whatever the case, the joy in their eyes was one of the brightest things I witnessed all day.
In all I walked 11.419 steps, was very active for 125 minutes and burned 443 calories according to the health app on my phone. I’m sure all of the stair climbing made that feel like a lot more and looking back at it, I found walking on all that concrete was a little hard on my running shoe clad feet.
At the end of the walk we dropped into an eatery called Poutineville, and made sure to add those calories we had burned back on. We returned to Sylvie’s apartment and had a good long visit before it was time for me to head back to Le Metro and return to my brother’s West Island home. It was a fabulous way to catch up with friends.
Thank you for reading My Photo Journal. Leave your mark in the comments below.
As usual, I’ll leave you with a tune. This is Going Underground by The Jam
This post makes me jealous. It has been far too long since I have made a proper visit to the city. Although if you ever have the chance, drop in on Espace Verre. If there's something scheduled when you visit, I'm certain you'll come away with some great shots of people working with hot glass.
My son was watching along when I was reading your post and asked me to ask you why there is no Line 3 (he likes all sort of maps :) (maybe there is, but couldn't spot it on the map)