Peter McGill

Shaughnessy House joins two wealthy households’ residences, built in 1874 and 1875 beneath a dormered mansard roof. The house is associated with timber merchant Robert Brown and leading railway businessmen. Incorporated into the Canadian Centre for Architecture between 1985 and 1989, it stands alongside a building combining grey limestone, aluminum and maple wood. The CCA contains exhibition galleries, a theatre, a bookstore, research facilities and conservation spaces. Baile Park lies to the north; Boulevard René-Lévesque and the sculpture garden designed by Melvin Charney border the institution to the south.

Windsor Station served as both a railway terminus and a company headquarters. Its original building went up between 1887 and 1889, with wings added in 1900 and from 1909 to 1914. Arcades, large dormers and turrets articulate the Romanesque Revival facades. Inside were waiting rooms, services for immigrants and travellers, and offices. Place Ville-Marie, inaugurated in 1962, belongs to the generation of skyscrapers that changed views towards Mount Royal. The city introduced height limits to preserve the visibility of the mountain’s crown.

Key places

• Shaughnessy House : paired Second Empire residences.
• Canadian Centre for Architecture : galleries, research and conservation.
• CCA sculpture garden : Melvin Charney’s garden south of René-Lévesque.
• Windsor Station : railway terminus and headquarters.
• Place Ville-Marie : skyscraper inaugurated in 1962.