Nostalgia & History > CN Headquarters Building in Montreal -- 4 Neat Photos

Roger Puta took these in December 1981.

Enjoy,
Marty Bernard



Edited 3 time(s). Last edit at 01/05/17 23:57 by MartyBernard.

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Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/05/17 23:57 by MartyBernard.

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wha...they can't even afford to light the "wet noodle" at night ?

These were taken from the Chateau Champlain hotel.

Ray

The shots were taken from the window of his room in the Chateau Champlain hotel.  It was built for CP Hotels in time for Expo 67 and was across the street from CP's Windsor Station.  It became part of the Marriott chain twenty years ago or so.

KG



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/06/17 04:04 by kgmontreal.

The_Chief_Way Wrote:
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> wha...they can't even afford to light the "wet
> noodle" at night ?

Very strange.....it always is and easy to spot.

kgmontreal Wrote:
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> The shots were taken from the window of his room
> in the Chateau Champlain hotel.  It was built for
> CP Hotels in time for Expo 67 and was across the
> street from CP's Windsor Station.  It became part
> of the Marriott chain twenty years ago or so.
>
> KG

That's CP's Chateau Champlain Hotel (with the rounded windows) extending into the top of the photo on the right. This was the Adirondack at Windsor Station and you can see the 'CN' on the Headquarters Building a couple of blocks away just above the PA's side cab windows.

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CN Headquarters and the entrance to Central Station on the right...

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Here's the upper portion of the Central Station Concourse......almost hidden by the CN Headquarters Bldg and the Queen Elizabeth Hotel.

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You can also see the CN's Queen Elizabeth Hotel in this photo as well.

Next to Windsor was the Laurentian Hotel.  I think at one time it was a CP Hotel before they built the Chateau Champlain.  I stayed there in 1974 after riding the then-new Amtrak/D&H Adirondack.  It was elegant but very tired.  By 1977 it had been demolished.

Tim
ghCBNS Wrote:
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> kgmontreal Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > The shots were taken from the window of his
> room
> > in the Chateau Champlain hotel.  It was built
> for
> > CP Hotels in time for Expo 67 and was across
> the
> > street from CP's Windsor Station.  It became
> part
> > of the Marriott chain twenty years ago or so.
> >
> > KG
>
> That's CP's Chateau Champlain Hotel (with the
> rounded windows) extending into the top of the
> photo on the right. This was the Adirondack at
> Windsor Station and you can see the 'CN' on the
> Headquarters Building a couple of blocks away just
> above the PA's side cab windows.

njmidland Wrote:
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>
> Next to Windsor was the Laurentian Hotel.  I
> think at one time it was a CP Hotel before they
> built the Chateau Champlain.  I stayed there in
> 1974 after riding the then-new Amtrak/D&H
> Adirondack.  It was elegant but very tired.  By
> 1977 it had been demolished.

The Laurentian Hotel's 'Last Hurrah' was during the 1976 Summer Olympics and then was demolished. You can actually see it coming down with the upper floors already removed in the second photo below from 1977 ((upper left).

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Here's an aerial photo of CN's Central Station area from 1947. You can seen the viaduct coming in from the right. Tracks pass below Central then in daylight again funnel down to enter Mt Royal Tunnel. CP's Windsor Station (with the train shed) is toward the bottom and the other station toward the right is the old Bonaventure Station that was the CNR's main Montreal Station before Central opened in the early '40s. In this '47 photo it was mostly an express terminal but did have some commuter trains.

You can pan in/out and click on the Satellite tab to see how the CN Headquarters Building, QE Hotel, Place Bonaventure and Place Ville Marie have now almost completely covered the Central Station Complex.

You can also see how the track alignment into Windsor Station have changed.

http://www.app.catbus.ca/1947satelliteview/app.html#17;45.49879354436324;-73.5672435187599

Switching gears slightly, what was the logic behind truncating Windsor Stations platforms? Why not build over them? Seems like covered loading tracks would be a good thing.

Great series.

King_Coal Wrote:
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> Switching gears slightly, what was the logic
> behind truncating Windsor Stations platforms? Why
> not build over them? Seems like covered loading
> tracks would be a good thing.
>
> Great series.

In order to tear down Windsor Street Station.  Thank goodness that never came to fruition!

King_Coal Wrote:
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> Switching gears slightly, what was the logic
> behind truncating Windsor Stations platforms? Why
> not build over them? Seems like covered loading
> tracks would be a good thing.
>
> Great series.

There were two floors of warehouse space beneath the covered tracks. My first ever job was on B floor directly under the tracks. The trainshed was built on
​a poured concrete and brick structure built in the early 1900's which was deteriorating.

The original Grand Trunk/ CN headquarters building is still intact closer to the harbour.

Speaking of hotels near the train stations in Montreal, the "Queens" was just south of Windsor station . Showing evidence of being expanded at least three times, the Queens lasted until the mid-1970's (as did the MTC Can-Car bus).

Of the three older hotels around Windsor station, the Windsor hotel two blocks north was the classiest. The Queens had a famous restaurant.

eminence_grise Wrote:
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> The original Grand Trunk/ CN headquarters building
> is still intact closer to the harbour.

Indeed it is, on McGill street and currently used by the government of Quebec. 

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eminence_grise Wrote:
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> Speaking of hotels near the train stations in
> Montreal, the "Queens" was just south of Windsor
> station . Showing evidence of being expanded at
> least three times, the Queens lasted until the
> mid-1970's (as did the MTC Can-Car bus).
>
> Of the three older hotels around Windsor station,
> the Windsor hotel two blocks north was the
> classiest. The Queens had a famous restaurant.

Fascinating shot. That block is now a parking lot. Remnants of the hotel lasted into the 1990s, I remember seeing it as a kid.

What this thread only hints at are the wonderful Canadian rail trips that we came to Montreal for.  I took the Adirondack to connect to the Atlantic to St. John and then the ferry over to Nova Scotia.  RDCs to Three Rivers on business. And of course the Canadian.  Central Station meant overnight on the Montrealer, a day in the city, then the Ocean to Moncton, RDC to North Sydney, ferry to Newfoundland, then the Terra Transport bus and rental cars to ride the narrow gauge mixed trains! Every year in the70's and early 80s was another rail adventure in Canada!

Tim