The Stock Exchange Tower () is a 48-storey

skyscraper A skyscraper is a tall continuously habitable building having multiple floors. Most modern sources define skyscrapers as being at least or in height, though there is no universally accepted definition, other than being very tall high-rise bui ...

Montreal Montreal is the List of towns in Quebec, largest city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Quebec, the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, second-largest in Canada, and the List of North American cit ...

Quebec Quebec is Canada's List of Canadian provinces and territories by area, largest province by area. Located in Central Canada, the province shares borders with the provinces of Ontario to the west, Newfoundland and Labrador to the northeast, ...

, Canada. It is located at the intersection of Victoria Square and

Saint Jacques Street Saint Jacques Street (, ), or St. James Street, is a major street in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, running from Old Montreal westward to Lachine. In 1818 the Bank of Montreal built its headquarters on St James, which began the development of the ...

in the International Quarter. It is connected by the underground city to the Square-Victoria-OACI Metro Station. When completed in 1964, the tower was the tallest building in Canada, a title it held until surpassed by the Toronto-Dominion Centre in 1967. It is currently the third tallest in Montreal and the twenty-fifth tallest building in the country. The Tour de la Bourse was designed by Luigi Moretti and Pier Luigi Nervi and is considered to be of the

International Style The International Style is a major architectural style and movement that began in western Europe in the 1920s and dominated modern architecture until the 1970s. It is defined by strict adherence to Functionalism (architecture), functional and Fo ...

History and development

The original project, conceived during the

Expo 67 The 1967 International and Universal Exposition, commonly known as Expo 67, was a general exhibition from April 28 to October 29, 1967. It was a category one world's fair held in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. It is considered to be one of the most s ...

-era economic boom, called for three identical towers arrayed in a triangle. It was scaled back to two towers flanking each side of the central core. Ultimately a single tower was built, due to financial constraints; the Hôtel Delta Centre-Ville was later built on the site of what was to be the second identical tower thus forming Place Victoria. Following the improvement and restoration of

Square Victoria Victoria Square (officially in ) is a town square and public space in the Quartier International de Montréal (also called the International Quarter) area of downtown Montreal, Quebec, Canada, at the intersection of Beaver Hall Hill and McGill ...

to its original configuration in 2002, Place Victoria is now a centrepiece of the new Quartier International downtown area. The tower itself is considered by many to be a masterpiece of the International style of skyscraper design. Its façade, fully renovated in 1995, features a

bronze Bronze is an alloy consisting primarily of copper, commonly with about 12–12.5% tin and often with the addition of other metals (including aluminium, manganese, nickel, or zinc) and sometimes non-metals (such as phosphorus) or metalloid ...

-tinted anodized aluminium curtain wall, forming a strong contrast with the slightly slanted

pre-cast concrete Precast concrete is a construction product produced by casting concrete in a reusable mold or "form" which is then cured in a controlled environment, transported to the construction site and maneuvered into place; examples include precast bea ...

columns at the four corners, giving the whole a subtly convex aspect. It is divided into three roughly equal blocks by mechanical floors whose corners are recessed in an

octagon In geometry, an octagon () is an eight-sided polygon or 8-gon. A '' regular octagon'' has Schläfli symbol and can also be constructed as a quasiregular truncated square, t, which alternates two types of edges. A truncated octagon, t is a ...

al shape, creating small open-air interstices behind the columns at these levels. One couple of

peregrine falcon The peregrine falcon (''Falco peregrinus''), also known simply as the peregrine, is a Cosmopolitan distribution, cosmopolitan bird of prey (raptor) in the family (biology), family Falconidae renowned for its speed. A large, Corvus (genus), cro ...

s has been nesting inside the 32nd floor recess since 1984. This , 48-story building was the world's tallest

reinforced concrete Reinforced concrete, also called ferroconcrete or ferro-concrete, is a composite material in which concrete's relatively low tensile strength and ductility are compensated for by the inclusion of reinforcement having higher tensile strength or ...

tower until the completion of Lake Point Tower in

Chicago Chicago is the List of municipalities in Illinois, most populous city in the U.S. state of Illinois and in the Midwestern United States. With a population of 2,746,388, as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the List of Unite ...

in 1968, and the tallest building in Canada until the completion of Toronto-Dominion Centre in 1967. The building's anchor tenant is still the

Montreal Exchange The Montreal Exchange (MX; ), formerly the Montreal Stock Exchange (MSE), is a derivatives exchange, located in Montreal, Quebec, Canada that trades futures contracts and option (finance), options on equities, indices, currencies, ETFs, energy and ...

on floors 3 and 4. The national and international law firm Fasken Martineau occupies six floors as well as space for services on the ground floor. The building is managed by Magil Laurentian Realty Corporation. In August 2004 Jolina Capital, owned by

Lino Saputo Emanuele "Lino" Saputo, (; born June 10, 1937) is an Italian-Canadian billionaire businessman. He is the founder of the Canadian cheese manufacturer Saputo Inc. According to ''Forbes'', he has an estimated net worth of US$4.7 billion as ...

who is also head of foodmaker Saputo Foods, acquired a majority stake in the building. Property management is still handled by Magil Laurentian, who retains a minority stake. In 2018, the owner of the building is Groupe Mach.

Events

*On February 13, 1969, the

Front de libération du Québec The (FLQ) was a Quebec separatist terrorist group which aimed to establish an independent and socialist Quebec. Founded sometime in the early 1960s, the FLQ conducted a number of attacks between 1963 and 1970,Reich, Walter. ''Origins of Terror ...

set off a bomb at the Stock Exchange, injuring twenty-seven people. No one was killed. *On April 7, 2005, around 150 students occupied the ground floor of the building to block access to the elevators, as part of a strategy of economic disruption during the 2005 Quebec student strike. They were scattered by

riot police Riot police are police who are organized, deployed, trained or equipped to confront crowds, protests or riots. Riot police may be regular police officers who act in the role of riot police in particular situations, or they may be separate unit ...

two hours later; one arrest was made. *In March 2010, the Tour de la Bourse was used by artist Aude Moreau for her work ''Sortir,'' in which the room lights in the upper levels of the tower were used to spell out the word "Sortir" across its façades.

Tenants

Airports Council International Airports Council International (ACI) is an organization of Airport authority, airport authorities, informing members of industry practices and airport standards. Established in 1991, its headquarters (ACI World) are based in Montreal, Quebec, Ca ...

* Autorité des marchés financiers * Canoe.ca * Dexia *Dunton Rainville, Lawyers and Notaries *

Royal Bank of Canada Royal Bank of Canada (RBC; ) is a Canadian multinational Financial institution, financial services company and the Big Five (banks), largest bank in Canada by market capitalization. The bank serves over 20 million clients and has more than ...

Export Development Canada Export Development Canada (EDC; ) is Canada's export credit agency and a Crown corporation wholly owned by the Government of Canada. Its mandate is to support and develop trade between Canada and other countries, and help Canada's competitiveness ...

* Fasken Martineau * TMX Group

IATA The International Air Transport Association (IATA ) is an airline trade association founded in 1945. IATA has been described as a cartel since, in addition to setting technical standards for airlines, IATA also organized tariff conferences tha ...

*eStruxture Data Centers *Robinson Sheppard Shapiro LLP *

World Anti-Doping Agency The World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA; , AMA) is an international organization co-founded by the governments of over 140 nations along with the International Olympic Committee based in Canada to promote, coordinate, and monitor the fight against d ...

References

www.defiegratteciel.com

External links

Official website

IMTL Image Montreal datasheet
{{Montreal landmarks Office buildings completed in 1964 Skyscraper office buildings in Montreal International style architecture in Canada Downtown Montreal Pier Luigi Nervi buildings

History and development

Events

Tenants

See also

References

External links