Place Bonaventure closes its exhibition hall
Place Bonaventure has shut down its exhibition hall for good. In operation for 57 years, the space has hosted a lot of trade shows over the years, and notably the Salon du livre and the Salon des métiers d’art held before Christmas.
I still hold out hope I’ll see that thing torn down. I don’t mind brutalism in itself, but Place Bonaventure was designed to turn its back on the street in a way that has damaged that part of town for decades.
Michael Black 11:31 on 2020-06-08 Permalink
The Auto Show was there originally. And one time in the sixties I went to an outdoor show there. When we started having computer shows here, later than elsewhere, they were at Place Bonaventure.
It used to be more than an exhibit hall. There were stores, and not just for food. They even had a promotion at least once where the stores would offer up something on sale, and lower the price each day for a few days. The Compucentre offered an Apple II, the final day the price was almost within reach. But, even if I’d had the money, chances are good it would have been snapped up before the lowest price.
Was the first local Compucentre there or Place Ville Marie? I suddenly can’t remember. But I remember an ad for their grand opening, and I rushed right down right then. What a disappointment. The name implied a computer store, but they only sold calculators and video games !ike Pong. And that remained for what seemed !ike a long time. I assumed they wanted to lock in the name but didn’t see computers as profitable that early.
Then Futur Byte opened a few months a few months later on Phillips Square. A real computer store, it was mostly empty every time I went in to check the magazines and books. Slowly the kids found it, so at least the place looked busy.
ProposMontreal - Martin 11:59 on 2020-06-08 Permalink
Damn! That’s big news. I work in the event industry and this place was hell to deliver to. That back ramp is a mess.
Dominic 12:03 on 2020-06-08 Permalink
Not sure if you’ve seen it in the last year or so, but extensive construction to the side facing de la Gauchetiere has resulted in gigantic street facing windows to open up the building and bring in natural light for office and retail space.
That area is pretty dead on weekends, not sure if COVID-19 screwed up their plans for adding a huge amount of downtown office space.
Mark Ury 13:25 on 2020-06-08 Permalink
Michael—Compucentre was in PVM. I remember playing Akalabeth on the Apple ][ for ages, then popping into Laura Secord for a lemonade and mint bar.
Kate 13:36 on 2020-06-08 Permalink
Dominic: No, I have not been past the building in a couple of years. Windows would be an improvement – thanks for letting me know.
Blork 14:06 on 2020-06-08 Permalink
It’s an improvement at street level (and one level up) but overall, and from a distance, it’s still a big block of doom.
https://goo.gl/maps/D7F47tkjH8qmBmBH8
Patrick 14:25 on 2020-06-08 Permalink
I agree about the building, but I did enjoy going to the Salon du livre there (even if the acoustics for the author panels were poor). Does the Salle des congrès really have enough room for that huge event? How does the PDC’s compare for accessibility, by the way? I’m always amazed at the number of kids in strollers at the Salon during the daytime hours.
Alex L 15:02 on 2020-06-08 Permalink
Concrete and glass with a few flowers for the cause, trees cut down: I guess that’s the new trend.
Kate 18:31 on 2020-06-08 Permalink
Blork’s link reminded me that it’s not only Place Bonaventure that blights that area. The Streetview link shows that the Bonaventure improvements are being done facing that awful parking garage façade which is the only street-level access to our train station – a structure that clearly pre-dates Bonaventure.
For a city that used to be a major train transport hub, we’ve really messed up our passenger train access. We’ve cut Windsor Station off from ever being used again as a train station, and after patching over the rail access to downtown and enabling the construction of Place Ville-Marie and the Queen Elizabeth hotel, somehow we forgot that we didn’t actually have normal access to the trains any more. Either you have to approach the station through a tunnel, or you have to sneak in from La Gauchetière beside a taxi rank. Toronto has Union Station and New York has Grand Central terminal, and we have a parking garage.
Max 21:56 on 2020-06-08 Permalink
This is not really news to me. The reconstruction of the main and 2nd floor of PB has been underway for many months now. Kevric’s current objective seems to be getting store-front clients in along de la Gauch, and a big-box tenant committing to the former exhibition space. Kudos to ’em for picking up this monstrosity for a song whatever years ago and bringing her back from the brink. The building’s gone from something like 30% to 90% occupancy just by them putting in all the new windows, rejigging the entrances, and hooking her up to metro Sqaure Victoria. That’s no mean feat in terms of architectural intervention.
No, it’s not pretty a building. But Place Bonaventure has earned its rightful spot in the downtown core. I’m confident the the new owners and their architects will make it right by us, in time. Patience, grasshoppers.
Robert H 23:46 on 2020-06-08 Permalink
Je me rappelle avant la construction lorsque Le Centre Bell était encore en discussion. Il y avait déjà ceux qui se plaignaient que l’aréna couperait La Gare Windsor des voies ferrées. Ils ont recommandé qu’il soit construit au-dessus des lignes de train de banlieue. Mais, bien sûr, il n’y avait pas assez d’argent pour cela. Ainsi, La Gare Windsor a été dépouillée de sa vocation, et ceux qui s’en viennent à Montréal sont accueillis dans un hangar glorifié caché derrière d’autre bâtiments. Je me demande si cette grosse méprise, aussi connue sous le nom de Centre Bell, pourrait être corrigée. Est-il possible d’elever l’ensemble du bâtiment et de restaurer la fonction de la gare? Combien des millions faudrait-il? Mais je rêve.
GC 08:46 on 2020-06-09 Permalink
That’s a lot of empty space downtown. I hope it does get used for something.
And I have to agree about the train station. When I first moved here I kept looking for the “real” entrance to it. I assumed there had to be a facade like Toronto’s Union Station and maybe a grand staircase or ramp.
Uatu 10:38 on 2020-06-09 Permalink
I’m just waiting for some slime ball developer to convert it into condos like some dystopian arcology imagined by JG Ballard
CE 10:47 on 2020-06-09 Permalink
Gare Centrale used to have a sober, art deco facade but it was covered up by the Queen Elizabeth and the other building next to it. There’s still a gap between the buildings which you can see from the satellite view where the old facade is. The most direct entrance to the station is also the least known, go through these doors on René Lévesque and you’ll enter almost directly into the station.
There’s a corridor next to the food court in the station where you can see lots of historical photos of the station, including a few that show the massive trench that cut through downtown where PVM was eventually built. Montreal has more of a Penn Station than a grand Central, unfortunately.
At least Gare Centrale has a pretty interesting interior.
Windsor station is never coming back. Maybe, possibly there was a chance that the Bell Centre would be removed someday so the tracks could again terminate at the station but now that there’s a 50 storey condo building in the way, I wouldn’t hold my breath.
Michael Black 11:04 on 2020-06-09 Permalink
Now that’s descriptive.
CE 11:37 on 2020-06-09 Permalink
Hi Kate, I posted a comment with a few links and it seems to have disappeared into the ether. Maybe it went into the spam folder?
Kate 11:38 on 2020-06-09 Permalink
Sorry about that, CE. It was automatically held for approval because of the links.
Robert H 16:30 on 2020-06-09 Permalink
Merci, CE. Au moins c’est mieux que Penn Station, le pire.
GC 18:27 on 2020-06-09 Permalink
Thanks, CE. I lived here a few years before I even discovered that entrance, I think. Granted, most of the time I approach it from the metro or the PVM tunnel… When I worked across the street from the station for a couple of years, I got more familiar with the various entrances.
I agree the interior is at least interesting. A bit more natural light would be nice, but that’s hard to make happen with all the tall buildings surrounding it. Lots of other main train stations in the world I’ve been to are rather cavelike in their natural light, too, so it’s not like I’m being fair to call just ours out for that.