The metro has been part of the daily lives of many Montrealers for more than half a century. For worse — when infrastructure failures force outages — and for better. Getting around town while avoiding traffic jams is a project that dates back to the beginning of the 20th century.e century, in Montreal. The construction of an underground transport network materialized following the reconquest of the town hall by Jean Drapeau in October 1960 and while Lucien Saulnier chaired the Executive Committee of the Town. The project was ambitious both aesthetically and technically: in four years, provide the metropolis with the “most modern” and “most beautiful” metro. The bet (almost) paid off: on October 14, 1966, 20 of the first 26 stations were inaugurated. The 1976 Olympics were the occasion for a first extension followed by two others, to bypass the mountain to the north and then extend the network to Laval in 2007.
Certainly, the Montreal metro was not the first whose stations are all different. That of Moscow built in the 1930s is distinguished by its architectural splendor making the gold of the palace accessible to the people. In Montreal, the rejection of a standardized solution allowed architects to demonstrate their talent, not without their proposals being subject to standards with regard to materials and equipment. Moreover, to the concern for quality and durability, was added the desire to make the network a major art gallery by soliciting artists to create works integrated into the architecture.
Over time, the transport infrastructure has aged, as have many of its users. The building has worn out, deteriorated, repairs were needed as the century ended. Moreover, its management has evolved under the pressure of tight public funding. In addition, traveler expectations have changed. Universal accessibility has become a requirement: to reach the depths, fixed and escalators are no longer sufficient and signage needed to be improved for greater comfort and safety. So many challenges for which the Société de transport de la Communauté urbaine de Montréal, which ensured the proper technical functioning of the network, was neither prepared nor humanly equipped. Also, the first interventions carried out without much regard for the existing made Héritage Montréal and Docomomo Québec react.
Heritage
Over the past twenty years, awareness of the metro’s heritage value has grown. Within the STM, attention was first focused on the works of art which, since 2007, have benefited from a maintenance and conservation program. In 2013, the City of Montreal published a statement of the heritage interest of the network, an official document that aims to promote management that respects the history of the site. Subsequently, in 2017, the Arts and Architecture section of the STM carried out a heritage inventory of the 68 stations. In 2018, an architectural advisory committee was institutionalized and named in honor of architect Jean Dumontier, one of the artisans of the metro who was among its first members, following his death. All of these initiatives are all means of decision-making assistance with a view to ensuring the heritage sustainability of the métro’s public space while carrying out the necessary repairs and transformations.
The current metro is both similar and different from what it was. Préfontaine, one of the brightest of the stations where the sun penetrates to the platform, after having seen its audacious glass roof replaced, was given a new entrance on the Raymond-Préfontaine Park side. Detached, the elevator shaft emerges from the ground at a distance from the street, to which it is connected by an awning: the addition stands out for its monumentality. Elsewhere, the new access is integrated into the entrance, notably at Honoré-Beaugrand or at Pie-IX. More radical is Beaudry’s metamorphosis, in which all the wall coverings have been replaced, drawing inspiration from the initial chromatic environment.
Dealing with the metro while enhancing the artistic dimension is no longer the priority: in the era of sustainable mobility, improving service to users by aiming to ensure the reliability and safety of the network thanks to its technological modernization is the primary concern of authorities. However, the heritage interest of Montréal’s infrastructure resides mainly in its architecture and its works of art, assets that the STM architects sought to preserve during recent repair and expansion work. While waiting to discover the REM, let’s rediscover the metro.