Place Bonaventure is one of the first buildings in Montreal to contain in one place, a 400 rooms hotel, an exhibition hall, a shopping mall and a garden on the roof.
Place Bonaventure is built over rails of the Canadian National railroad company and the Ville-Marie Expressway. The project was launched following Canadian National call for submission plan for development of space above his rails.
At the time of its opening, with 3.1 million square feet of rental space, Place Bonaventure was the largest building in the world, outscoring the Empire State Building.
With Place Ville-Marie, Place Bonaventure was part of a vast project designed to hide the CN railroad, which then cut the city in two. These projects were largely responsible for moving Montreal downtown from Old Montreal to René-Levesque Blvd.
Huge by its forms and its steep walls almost blind (windows were added later during major renovations in 1998) this building was part of a trend in modern architecture inspired by the Charter of Athens. The charter saw the city as a medium, a grid used to receive large multifunctional blocks almost independent from outside urban activities. Following major renovations in 1998, the place saw one of his core business changes: The commercial space has decrease from 200 000 square feet to 22 000, to make way for office space.
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