Bonsecours Market

Bonsecours Market at 350 Saint-Paul street in Old Montreal, is a two-story domed public market located in Montreal, Quebec, Canada.[1] For more than 100 years, it was the main public market in the Montreal area. It also briefly accommodated the Parliament of United Canada for one session in 1849.

Bonsecours Market
Bonsecours Market, as seen from the Old Port of Montreal
Bonsecours Market, as seen from the Old Port of Montreal
Bonsecours Market is located in Montreal
Bonsecours Market
General information
Architectural styleNeoclassical architecture
Location350 Saint-Paul east
Montreal, Quebec, Canada
H2Y 1H2
Coordinates45°30′32″N 73°33′05″W
Construction started1844
Completed1847
Design and construction
Architect(s)William Footner
Website
http://www.marchebonsecours.qc.ca/en/index.html
Official nameBonsecours Market National Historic Site of Canada
Designated1984

Named for the adjacent Notre-Dame-de-Bon-Secours Chapel, it opened in 1847. During 1849 the building was used for the Legislative Assembly of the Province of Canada. The market's design was influenced by Dublin's Customs House.[2]

History
Market in 1940

Construction of this Neoclassical[3] building began in 1844 and were completed in 1847.[4] It was designed by British architect William Footner,[5] and alterations completed in 1860 were designed by Irish-born Montreal architect George Browne (1811–1885).[6] Bonsecours Market also housed Montreal City Hall between 1852 and 1878. The former city hall chambers later became a 3700-square-meter meeting room.

The market building was also a venue for banquets, exhibitions and other festivals. Browne was charged with adding a 900-square-meter concert hall and banquet hall.

The building continued to house the farmer's central market,[1] an increasingly multicultural mix of small vendors,[7] until it was closed in 1963 and slated for demolition. However, the building was later transformed into a multi-purpose facility, with a mall that houses outdoor cafés, restaurants and boutiques on the main and second floors, as well as a rental hall and banquet rooms on the lower and upper floors and municipal office space.

Bonsecours Market was designated a National Historic Site of Canada in 1984.[8][9]

Legacy
Bonsecours Market at night.

On 28 May 1990 Canada Post issued 'Bonsecours Market, Montreal' designed by Raymond Bellemare. The stamp features an image of the Bonsecours Market, which was designed by Montreal architect William Footner and constructed from 1842 to 1845. The $5 stamps are perforated 13.5 and were printed by British American Bank Note Company & Canadian Bank Note Company, Limited.[10]

References
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Bonsecours Market.
  1. Architecture: The AIA Journal. Vol. 82, Issues 9-12. American Institute of Architects. 1993. pp. 237–8.
  2. Philip V. Allingham. "Dickens's Montreal: May 1842". Victorian Web
  3. "Bonsecours Market National Historic Site of Canada". Canadian Register of Historic Places. Parks Canada Agency. Retrieved 28 September 2021.
  4. Dany Fougères; Roderick Macleod (6 April 2018). Montreal: The History of a North American City. McGill-Queen's University Press. pp. 565–. ISBN 978-0-7735-5128-2.
  5. Jean-Claude Marsan (1 September 1990). Montreal in Evolution: Historical Analysis of the Development of Montreal's Architecture and Urban Environment. McGill-Queen's Press - MQUP. pp. 193–. ISBN 978-0-7735-8037-4.
  6. "George Browne". The Canadian Encyclopedia
  7. Susan Ireland; Patrice J. Proulx (2004). Textualizing the Immigrant Experience in Contemporary Quebec. Greenwood Publishing Group. pp. 12–. ISBN 978-0-313-32425-3.
  8. "Bonsecours Market". Directory of Designations of National Historic Significance of Canada. Parks Canada. Retrieved 29 July 2011.
  9. Bonsecours Market. Canadian Register of Historic Places. Retrieved July 29, 2011.
  10. Canada Post Stamp. Library and Archives Canada website
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