montréal Parc du Mont-Royal - Discussion générale

[IluvMTL]

https://www.facebook.com/events/279184246208330/

 

Mount-Royal Moonrise tonight

The cosmic buffet of Summer 2018 continues! During this Moonrise, we'll have 4 planets visible with the naked eye: Venus, Jupiter, Saturn, and Mars. We'll have the telescope with us to get a closer look.

The main course, however, is hoping that the skies will stay clear and we'll get to see a beautiful, large, reddish Moon appear over the horizon.

Hope you can come along!

-- IMPORTANT TIMES --

7:00 PM: Meet at George-Étienne Cartier Monument
7:15 PM: Leave the statue
7:45 PM: Arrive at Chalet du Mont Royal
8:07 PM: The Moon rises

-- WHAT TO EXPECT --

During a Full Moon, as the Sun sets, the Moon rises. And from atop Mont-Royal, we'll be there to watch it climb above the horizon.

When the Moon is low on the horizon, it'll have a reddish-orange colour and appear larger than usual. It's not actually larger... it's just a trick of human visual perception.

For every first-timer, they are shocked by the view. If the sky is clear, it won't disappoint. We'll have the telescope with us too, so you can take a look and snap some pretty photos.

We will meet at the George-Étienne Cartier Monument (Tam Tams) and then walk up the mountain before the Moon rises. Accessibility info at the bottom.

-- WEATHER RULES --

If it's absolutely pouring out, we're NO GO.
If it's super cloudy, with no hope for a view, we're NO GO.
If it's a little cloudy, but we can see a good chunk of the sky, we are GO!
If there's no clouds at all, we are GO!

-- ACCESSIBILITY INFORMATION --

I would recommend if you have trouble walking up the mountain to meet us up at the top, as it can be physically taxing for some. 

There are several bus routes that will take you up the mountain and will leave you with a much easier 10-minute walk to the chalet:

From Mont-Royal: Bus #11, get off at the Remembrance / Chemin du Chalet stop

From Concordia/Area: Bus #165 or Bus #166 to Côte-des-Neiges / Forest Hill, transfer to Bus #11, get off at the Remembrance / Chemin du Chalet stop

If you need help finding a bus route, don’t hesitate to comment or send a personal message and I will help you out.

[ScarletCoral]

https://ici.radio-canada.ca/nouvelle/1128344/ski-alpin-mont-royal-slalom-parallele-gestev

Un promoteur aimerait tenir une épreuve de ski alpin sur le mont Royal

Publié il y a 8 minutes

 

 

Le chemin Olmsted, sur le mont Royal Photo : Radio-Canada/Charles Contant

 

Les skieurs pourraient dévaler les pentes du parc du mont Royal d'ici quelques années si un promoteur québécois parvient à convaincre les autorités.

LA PRESSE CANADIENNE

Le président de Gestev a déclaré que le groupe échafaude présentement un plan afin de relancer le projet, dans l’espoir de tenir une éventuelle épreuve de slalom en parallèle sur le circuit de la Coupe du monde.

Patrice Drouin a mentionné que son organisation était à la recherche d’un lieu depuis plusieurs années, mais qu’elle n’avait réalisé que récemment que la taille du mont Royal correspondait pratiquement aux normes de la Fédération internationale de ski (FIS) pour le slalom en parallèle.

Il doit maintenant rencontrer de nombreuses fédérations sportives ainsi que des représentants des divers ordres de gouvernement afin de déterminer si l’intérêt est suffisant pour développer l’idée.

Son plan prévoit de nettoyer et de rénover l’ancienne piste située sur le versant nord du mont Royal, qui a fermé ses portes en 1979.

M. Drouin a ajouté que le mont Royal pourrait accueillir des courses dès 2020, et être ouvert au public par la suite.

 

Ski alpin sur le Mont-Royal en 1954  Photo : Archives Ville de Montréal

[MontréalMartin]

Le 2018-10-06 à 14:12, ScarletCoral a dit :

https://ici.radio-canada.ca/nouvelle/1128344/ski-alpin-mont-royal-slalom-parallele-gestev

Un promoteur aimerait tenir une épreuve de ski alpin sur le mont Royal

Publié il y a 8 minutes

 

 

Le chemin Olmsted, sur le mont Royal Photo : Radio-Canada/Charles Contant

 

Les skieurs pourraient dévaler les pentes du parc du mont Royal d'ici quelques années si un promoteur québécois parvient à convaincre les autorités.

LA PRESSE CANADIENNE

Le président de Gestev a déclaré que le groupe échafaude présentement un plan afin de relancer le projet, dans l’espoir de tenir une éventuelle épreuve de slalom en parallèle sur le circuit de la Coupe du monde.

Patrice Drouin a mentionné que son organisation était à la recherche d’un lieu depuis plusieurs années, mais qu’elle n’avait réalisé que récemment que la taille du mont Royal correspondait pratiquement aux normes de la Fédération internationale de ski (FIS) pour le slalom en parallèle.

Il doit maintenant rencontrer de nombreuses fédérations sportives ainsi que des représentants des divers ordres de gouvernement afin de déterminer si l’intérêt est suffisant pour développer l’idée.

Son plan prévoit de nettoyer et de rénover l’ancienne piste située sur le versant nord du mont Royal, qui a fermé ses portes en 1979.

M. Drouin a ajouté que le mont Royal pourrait accueillir des courses dès 2020, et être ouvert au public par la suite.

 

Ski alpin sur le Mont-Royal en 1954  Photo : Archives Ville de Montréal

C'est écrit dans le ciel. Il y aura toujours des promoteurs qui voudront s'attaquer au mont Royal pour leur profit. 

Pour le moment on annonce la coupe d'arbre seulement pour dégager l'ancienne piste.

Mais qu'ont-ils l'intention de faire pour installer les ''milliers'' de spectateurs (et leurs voitures), et l'équipement d'accueil, et les locaux pour les athlètes, et d'autres bâtiment pour les journalistes ? 

À la lumière des projets récents, je ne pense pas que celui-ci passe à travers les multiples paliers décisionnels du mont Royal

[Né entre les rapides]

Il y a 6 heures, MontréalMartin a dit :

C'est écrit dans le ciel. Il y aura toujours des promoteurs qui voudront s'attaquer au mont Royal pour leur profit. 

Pour le moment on annonce la coupe d'arbre seulement pour dégager l'ancienne piste.

Mais qu'ont-ils l'intention de faire pour installer les ''milliers'' de spectateurs (et leurs voitures), et l'équipement d'accueil, et les locaux pour les athlètes, et d'autres bâtiment pour les journalistes ? 

À la lumière des projets récents, je ne pense pas que celui-ci passe à travers les multiples paliers décisionnels du mont Royal

Il est essentiel que les questions que tu poses obtiennent des réponses acceptables, sinon l'idée devra être abandonnée promptement --avant que «la coupe d'arbre pour dégager la piste» soit effectuée (en pure perte).

[jerry]

La patinoire naturelle du lac aux Castors pourrait revoir le jour 

Jeanne Corriveau

14 novembre 2018

• Montréal

La Ville de Montréal n’écarte pas l’idée de réaménager une patinoire naturelle sur le lac aux Castors, un an après avoir annoncé qu'elle renonçait à ce site définitivement à la suite d’un accident.

Plusieurs options sont à l’étude, mais encore cet hiver, les Montréalais devront se contenter de la patinoire réfrigérée du mont Royal.

À l’hiver 2016-2017, la Ville avait décidé de fermer de façon permanente la patinoire naturelle du lac aux Castors après que la glace eut cédé sous le poids d’un véhicule d’entretien lors d’un redoux. La profondeur du bassin, pouvant atteindre plus de six mètres depuis la réfection du site en 2015, de même que le réchauffement climatique rendent risqué l’aménagement d’une patinoire naturelle à cet endroit.

« On a analysé des sites alternatifs. C’est clair que le patinage sur le mont Royal est une activité historique qu’on voudrait conserver. C’est un peu l’image même de Montréal en hiver. […] On est en train de regarder si on peut réinterpréter le risque », a expliqué Luc Ferrandez, responsable des grands parcs au comité exécutif, devant la Commission des finances qui étudiait, mercredi matin, le budget des grands parcs et des sports de la Ville de Montréal.

L’élu a indiqué que la Ville examinait la possibilité de recourir à des véhicules d’entretien plus petits. « L’arrosage d’une grande patinoire comme celle-là et le déneigement nécessitent des camions lourds. Peut-on travailler de façon différente ? Limiter la saison ? On étudie toutes les options. On est très conscients de la perte. »

Trouver un autre site sur la montagne représente aussi un défi. « On n’a pas trouvé beaucoup de sites. Il faudrait un endroit plat, ce qui signifie qu’il faudrait modifier le paysage. Il faudrait l’aplanir. Ça ne nous tente pas tant que ça. Mais aucun scénario n’est écarté », a-t-il précisé.

Reste que la patinoire naturelle du mont Royal, qu’elle soit aménagée sur le bassin du lac aux Castors ou ailleurs sur la montagne, ne pourra être prête pour la saison hivernale 2018-2019, a indiqué Luc Ferrandez.

Patinoires réfrigérées

Pierre Pagé, du groupe citoyen Montréal pour tous, a aussi demandé si, à l’instar d’autres villes au pays, Montréal envisageait de construire plus de patinoires réfrigérées afin de prolonger la saison de hockey malgré les changements climatiques.

Luc Ferrandez a fait remarquer qu’il s’agissait d’un choix de société. « Le problème, c’est que si tu fais une patinoire extérieure en béton et que tu rajoutes un toit, tu n’es plus tellement loin d’un aréna. Il ne manque que les murs sur les côtés. Il faut se poser collectivement la question : jusqu’où est-on prêts à aller pour protéger les patinoires ? Est-ce qu’on veut consacrer une partie de nos parcs à une transformation assez majeure pour faire en sorte qu’on puisse jouer au hockey en hiver malgré les changements de température ? Je n’ai pas la réponse. »

Sa collègue responsable du développement social et des sports et loisirs, Rosannie Filato, a signalé que la Ville souhaitait développer une expertise à l’interne concernant les patinoires réfrigérées. « Idéalement, pour rattraper les autres villes, il faudrait au moins une [nouvelle] patinoire réfrigérée par année. C’est notre objectif. »

https://www.ledevoir.com/politique/montreal/541313/la-patinoire-du-lac-aux-castors-pourrait-revoir-le-jour

Modifié 15 novembre 2018 par jerry

[Carniala]

je suis aller marche hier et des vandals on mis de la peinture de l'entree Peel au sommet, tous le long sur l escalier, dans les sentiers et sur les murets de pierres, tous le monde semblaient choquer. Je ne sais pas ce qui les motives, mais a voir la reaction des gens, il faudrait pas qu'ils se fassent prendre, car je suis pas sur qu'ils aimeraient le châtiment.......

[ScarletCoral]

Article intéressant dans la Gazette qui liste les différents projets por le mont Royal. Certains loufoques

https://montrealgazette.com/news/local-news/mount-royal-saving-the-peoples-park-from-fanciful-schemes

Mount Royal: Saving 'the people's park' from fanciful schemes

If things had gone differently, Mount Royal might have been home to an aerial tram, a bobsled run, ski jumps and a skyscraper.

ANDY RIGA

Updated: August 3, 2019

Call Montreal the city that saved a mountain.

Repeatedly over the past century and a half, Montrealers have rallied to save Mount Royal from avaricious landowners, extravagant politicians and well-intentioned dreamers.

Some of the schemes ‒ towers, tunnels, speedways, museums, amphitheatres and more ‒ would have damaged the mountain’s natural beauty by dramatically changing the landscape and attracting throngs of additional visitors.

Named by Jacques Cartier in the 16th century after he visited an Iroquoian village on its flank, Mount Royal has for centuries been a focal point for Montrealers as an iconic symbol dominating the skyline and a rural escape from the buzzing city.

As we flock to the mountain once again to enjoy the summer greenery, the Montreal Gazette looks at pivotal moments in the history of the fragile urban oasis and at some fanciful proposals ‒ towering structures, people movers and sports venues ‒ that never materialized.

 

Towering structures

We affectionately call it “the mountain” but at 233 metres above sea level, Mount Royal is more of a hill. That may be why people keep coming up with ways to extend it further into the sky.

One of the earliest schemes would have given Montreal a religious shrine to rival the Christ the Redeemer statue that towers over Rio de Janeiro in Brazil.

In 1888, prominent local Catholics asked Montreal to set aside land near the summit for a colossal bronze statue of the Virgin Mary. Designed by famed sculptor Louis-Philippe Hébert, it would have been 60 metres high. That’s twice the size of Rio’s famous figure, and of the cross erected on the mountain in 1924.

Petitions pro and con are preserved in Montreal’s archives. Proponents argued the statue would be a “remarkable ornament” commemorating Montreal’s original name — Ville Marie. But some anglophones were aghast. Granting public land for the project “would be extremely offensive to the consciences of the Protestant population of the city as an abuse of images, against which they and their forefathers have continued to protest since the time of the Protestant reformation,” the anti-statue petition stated.

A year later, the groundbreaking Eiffel Tower was completed in Paris.

That got architect François Lapointe’s creative juices flowing.

In 1896, he proposed a 150-metre-high, Eiffel-like steel tower atop the mountain.

This drawing, published by La Presse, shows an Eiffel Tower-like structure proposed for Mount Royal in 1896. Source: Bibliothèque et Archives nationales du Québec

It would be less than half the height of the Eiffel (312 metres at the time) but newspapers noted that since it would sit atop Mount Royal, Montreal’s structure would actually reach 381 metres above sea level. Restaurants as well as balloon rides and parachute jumps from the top were envisaged.

Ideas for other types of structures were put forward.

In 1937, Mayor Camillien Houde liked the sounds of a nine-storey building on the mountain, each floor highlighting a Canadian province (Newfoundland had not yet joined Confederation).

Thirty years later, a proposal to build a “French Canada pavilion” near the summit was presented.

As tall as 47-storey Place Ville Marie, the pavilion would feature a permanent exhibit about the French fact, highlighting the mountain and ridding francophones of their “inferiority complex,” according to Clément Royer, the man who proposed the structure. Elevators would take visitors up from a new station to be built in the train tunnel that runs under Mount Royal.

In the mid-1980s, megaproject-loving Mayor Jean Drapeau, who had coveted a distinctive tower since Expo 67, became enamoured with the concept of a massive new building on Mount Royal.

It would be a tourist attraction to rival Toronto’s CN Tower, complete with a revolving restaurant, a disco and cable cars bringing visitors from ground level. It would incorporate the radio and TV transmission tower on the mountain, installed in 1960 and still in place today; Drapeau had long wanted the antennas replaced, describing them as a “scrap heap” that blight Mount Royal.

A study by the SNC Group suggests a gargantuan tower between 225 and 335 metres high, with its tip possibly reaching 518 metres above sea level. By comparison, PVM’s height is 225 metres above sea level. Drapeau was said to favour building the new tower in the shape of a cross.

There was fierce opposition, with critics saying the mammoth tower would mar the mountain’s silhouette and bucolic character.

The project died after Drapeau, Montreal’s longest-serving mayor, announced he was quitting politics. Mayoralty candidates in the 1986 election would not touch the tower with a 10-foot pole.

In 1986, Les amis de la montagne published this poster as part of its protest against a plan to build an enormous tower on Mount Royal.

 

People movers

How do you get people to the top of Mount Royal so they can immerse themselves in nature and enjoy spectacular views?

That has been a delicate question since before the city started buying up land in 1869.

Years earlier, the Montreal Mountain Boulevard Company was formed with the aim, never fulfilled, of developing a network of private toll roads on the mountain.

Many other propositions would be brought forward in the decades to come, perhaps none so monumental as the one put forward by lawyer Joseph-Roch Mainville in the 1890s.

Imagine boarding a cable car on Île Sainte-Hélène, then gliding over Montreal to reach the summit of Mount Royal, about four kilometres away.

Mainville was inspired by aerial tramways used in mines in mountainous regions — and by the Eiffel Tower. The two supporting towers of his elaborate system would resemble the Parisian marvel, completed in 1889.

The Mount Royal funicular shown with a calèche, 1910. It was shut down in 1918, leading to proposals for replacements. Photo by Edgar Gariépy. Source: City of Montreal archives. MONWP

 

At ground level that same year, talk of a tramway on Mount Royal raised concerns, with opponents arguing it would disturb the mountain’s serenity.

Among those vehemently opposed were 20,000 women — members of the Park Protective Society — who signed a petition against it.

On Feb. 26, 1895, the Gazette reported on a “very long petition from citizens, protesting against any railway being allowed on the mountain, which is the people’s park. The mayor (Joseph-Octave Villeneuve) remarked that public feeling was so strong on this subject that the Montreal Street Railway had withdrawn their request.”

In 1918, an inclined railway known as a funicular that had carried passengers up and down the mountain for 33 years shut down, leaving two options for visitors — on foot or via horse-drawn vehicles.

Many wanted a new mode of transport.

In 1922, blueprints were drawn up for a system that would include a four-metre-wide, 100-metre tunnel from Park Ave. taking pedestrians to elevators that could take up to 1,000 passengers per hour up to a lookout.

Another plan, dated 1927, involved a narrow, salmon-coloured 15-storey building with elegant, arched windows near Park Ave.; it would house two elevators to zip passengers up to mountain height where a footbridge would take them to terra firma.

Drawing shows the front of a Mount Royal elevator tower, proposed in 1927, that would have taken passengers up to the summit from Park Ave. Source: City of Montreal archives

 

Montreal could not resist the lure of tramways on the mountain forever.

A short line from the west opened in 1924. A longer eastern line followed in 1930 after a 103-metre tunnel was built through a section of rock. The two trams met near Smith House.

That was not good enough for architect L.J.T. Décary. In the late 1930s and early 1940s, he developed and refined a “Montmétro” proposal.

Picture a subway line from near Peel and Ste-Catherine Sts. to a stop under the mountain, where passengers can visit an aquarium in a rotunda with 25-metre ceilings, then jump on elevators up to the chalet.

Décary threw in an underground garage for 3,600 cars that during wartime could be converted into an air-raid shelter for 60,000 people.

A 1942 La Presse story about a plan to build an underground train to the mountain with an elevator to take visitors to the summit. Source: Bibliothèque et Archives nationales du Québec

 

After resisting the allowing of cars on the mountain for decades, in the 1950s Montreal was replacing tramways with buses. Mayor Drapeau was also eager to allow drivers to cross the mountain.

New York firm Clarke and Rapuano was hired to design a master plan for Mount Royal. It diverged radically from the well-laid plans of Frederick Law Olmsted, the visionary landscape architect who designed Mount Royal Park as a refuge from the city, a hilly haven one climbed slowly, admiring nature and the views.

Clarke and Rapuano proposed a network of wide roads over and around the park, plus two amphitheatres (total capacity: 6,000), tennis courts, a geology museum, a two-level bus station and an indoor horse-riding ring as well as a stable for 40 horses. Vast parking lots and side roads were also recommended.

In the face of public criticism, the city ignored much of the vision, including a street along the footpath known as Olmsted Rd. that would have taken drivers around Beaver Lake and below the lookout.

But in 1958 with the tramways out of the way, the wide road still in place today replaced the old tracks on Remembrance Rd. and Camillien-Houde Way and a large parking lot went up near Smith House.

In addition, two highway-style interchanges were built ‒ one at Remembrance and Cote-des-Neiges Rd., the other at Park and Pine Aves. The latter was replaced by ground-level roads in the 2000s.

Drawing of an open-air amphitheatre proposed for Mount Royal in the 1950s. Source: City of Montreal

Sports venues

 

Horseback riding, tobogganing and downhill and cross-country skiing were popular pastimes for decades on Mount Royal.

The mountain is still a venue of choice for tobogganers and cross-country skiers. But stables near Côte-des-Neiges Rd. that housed about 140 horses were demolished in the 1950s. And in 1979 the Université de Montréal closed a downhill ski operation on the northern flank, leaving just the ski lift, remnants of which are still visible.

The tobogganing slide on Mount Royal, circa 1884. Source: McCord Museum

 

Over the years, plans for new sports facilities have raised alarm bells.

One in particular would have dramatically changed a wide swath of the mountain between the Camillien-Houde Lookout and Park Ave.

It was 1965 and Olympic bobsled gold medalist Victor Emery was among those behind a proposal to turn that part of the mountain into a major winter sports complex.

Artist renderings published in the Gazette at the time showed a 1.5-kilometre bobsled run, a 90-metre ski jump and an “alpine pavilion featuring facilities for dining and dancing.” A footpath along the entirety of the bobsled run was also planned, as were stands for 15,000 spectators near the ski jump.

Mayor Drapeau, always looking for ways to put Montreal on the map and already yearning to bring the Olympics to Montreal, said, “the proposal appeared to bear considerable merit,” the Gazette reported. But the idea never went anywhere.

A drawing, published by the Montreal Gazette in 1965, shows a ski jump and bobsled run proposed for Mount Royal.

 

Two decades later in 1986 two other sports projects came to light.

The Université de Montréal wanted to lease part of its land on Mount Royal to a developer eager to build a six-trail ski centre featuring snow-making equipment, three chair lifts and a 1,000-car parking lot. Five hectares of red oak and maple trees would have to be cleared.

Across town around the same time, McGill University was trying to convince the city to let it build an indoor sports complex near Pine and Park, partly on public land.

McGill’s new gym was eventually built but the ski project was quietly dropped over concerns about the impact on the mountain.

Efforts to revive the ski hill resurface occasionally. Early this year, Montreal rejected the latest proposal to hold World Cup parallel slalom races there, starting in 2020. The city cited the negative impact of cutting down trees and attracting hordes of spectators to the mountain.

Timeline: Mount Royal Park

Circa 1860: A property owner named J. Lamothe sparks outrage when he chops down trees on Mount Royal’s southern flank, above Peel St., to sell them for firewood. Public meetings, petitions and letters to the editor ensue; calls intensify for the city to create a park on the mountain, a retreat from the bustling, polluted, fast-growing city below.

1869-1875: The city of Montreal spends $1 million to buy private land, some of it by expropriation, to create a park. To design it, the city taps prominent landscape architect Frederick Law Olmsted, designer of New York City’s Central Park.

1876: Mount Royal Park opens. Olmsted’s design features meandering paths that take pedestrians through eight distinct areas of the mountain, interspersed with lookouts. Not all of his plans are fulfilled. The city, for example, does not build the elevated platform he envisaged on the summit — one from which mountain-goers could take in a 360-degree view of the city. Proposals to capitalize on that spectacular view will come up time and again over the next century or so.

A map of Mount Royal Park, dated 1877. Source: City of Montreal archives

 

1885: Going against Olmsted’s vision — he wanted visitors to gradually make their way up the mountain on sinuous paths — the city approves the construction of a private inclined railway. The funicular shuttles people from roughly where Park and Duluth Aves. meet. The cost: a nickel for adults and three cents for children.

1888: Catholics want to build an immense bronze statue of the Virgin Mary on Mount Royal that would be twice as tall as the cross that is eventually erected.

An 1888 petition against a proposal to install a 60-metre-tall statue of the Virgin Mary on Mount Royal. Source: City of Montreal archives

1895: Lawyer Joseph-Roch Mainville presents his idea of ferrying passengers via aerial trams between Île Sainte-Hélène in the St. Lawrence River and the top of Mount Royal.

Drawing, published in the Montreal Gazette in 1986, shows an 1895 proposal to build an aerial tramway between Île Sainte-Hélène and Mount Royal. Two supporting towers resemble the Eiffel Tower.

1896: Architect François Lapointe pitches an Eiffel Tower-like edifice for the mountain.

1908: As part of a plan “for a better Montreal,” the City Improvement League recommends expropriating one side of Duluth Ave. to create a very wide, tree-lined boulevard that would integrate Mount Royal into the city. To be called Confederation Blvd., it would link the mountain to Lafontaine Park.

A wide boulevard connecting Mount Royal and Lafontaine parks was proposed in the early 20th century.

1918: Strapped for cash, owners of the funicular shut it down, eliminating the only quick way up. But there’s now a way under it because a five-kilometre railway tunnel has just opened under Mount Royal. For decades to come, creative minds will mull the engineering feat as they envisaged subterranean routes to the summit.

An August 1915 photo of work on the Mount Royal Tunnel. Montreal Gazette files. MONWP

1920s: Several elevator and funicular proposals are submitted.

Blueprints, dated 1922, show a Mount Royal transport system that would have included a long pedestrian tunnel and elevators to the summit. Source: City of Montreal archives

1924: Electric tramways have been crisscrossing Montreal since 1892. Opposition to trams on Mount Royal has waned and a western line opens on the mountain. It’s a short line, taking passengers up what is now Remembrance Rd. from Côte-des-Neiges Rd. It’s a big year for Mount Royal. Two iconic landmarks are in the works. Construction starts on St. Joseph’s Oratory. And the Société St-Jean-Baptiste puts up the 30-metre-tall illuminated steel cross. Plans for a more elaborate structure fall through. Under the original concept, the cross was to be built on a stone structure and visitors could climb up and take in the view from observation platforms in the cross’s arms. The Gazette reports that developers have submitted a plan to the city for “a palatial hotel on the summit, as well as a structure that would rival the Eiffel Tower in Paris.”

Detail of a 1940 map shows the two tramway lines on Mount Royal — the 11 and the 93. Source: City of Montreal archives.

1930: A tramway from the east opens, transporting visitors arriving from Park Ave. Over its 27 years in service, more than 6 million trips will be taken on the line.

Early 1930s: An unemployment relief project, the Mount Royal chalet opens and the lookout offering views of the city and the St. Lawrence River is renovated.

Postcard shows an early design of the Mount Royal cross. Source: Bibliothèque et Archives nationales du Québec

1934: Gaston Demers, a doctor, advances the idea of a casino to harness “a picturesque mountain that produces nothing … and currently only serves for picnics and walks.”

1938: Using shovels, workers create shamrock-shaped Beaver Lake in a swampy area where Olmsted had planned to locate a pond. Legend has it the artificial lake got its name after workers found evidence of an old beaver dam. A proposed beach does not materialize.

A map dated 1937 shows the location of a beach that was never built on Beaver Lake. Source: Montreal Gazette archives

Circa 1940: Architect L.J.T. Décary unveils his Montmétro proposal: a subway line between the public space now known as Dorchester Square and Mount Royal. Elevators would whoosh passengers up the mountain.

1948: Mayor Camillien Houde is keen on an open-air amphitheatre similar to the Hollywood Bowl on the mountain.

Drawing, published by La Presse, shows a Hollywood Bowl-type amphitheatre on Mount Royal. Source: Bibliothèque et Archives nationales du Québec

1949: Astronomer Roger Brodeur advocates for the construction of a complex that includes a 4,000-seat planetarium, a concert hall and a museum.

1950s: With tramways on the way out, cars are allowed on Mount Royal. But Montreal resists part of a plan from New York landscape architects that would have created a network of highways, as well as an influx of cars to reach theatres, a museum, stables and more.

A 1957 sketch published in the Montreal Gazette shows a road (“proposed speedway”) that would have run around Beaver Lake and under the lookout.

1958: The Beaver Lake chalet opens replacing temporary structures that had served as a shelter and canteen.

1959: Word leaks out that a developer wants to build 16 residential towers on a part of the mountain owned by the Mount Royal Cemetery. An uproar ensues. The Citizen’s Planning Committee for Mount Royal is formed by concerned citizens. The city eventually buys the land and integrates it into the park.

1965: Mayor Drapeau is interested in turning part of the mountain into a winter sports complex. Plans for a bobsled run and ski jumps are drawn up.

An image, published in the Montreal Gazette in 1957, shows a proposed winter sports complex on Mount Royal. The corner of Côte-Ste-Catherine Rd. and Mount Royal Ave. are shown in the bottom right hand corner.

1966: A plan to build a “French Canada pavilion” on Mount Royal as tall as Place Ville Marie is floated.

1984: A group called Les compagnons de Jacques Cartier proposes building a six-metre high statue of the French explorer near the summit.

1986: Three projects galvanize Montreal mountain-lovers: a tourist tower, a new ski hill near the Université de Montréal and a new sports complex for McGill University. Alarm over the potential impact on the mountain leads to the creation of Les amis de la montagne, which to this day remains a key defender of Mount Royal’s natural character. McGill eventually builds its complex, but after Drapeau quits, the tower and ski centre are dropped.

A ski lift and ski jump on Mount Royal, near the Université de Montréal in Côte-des-Neiges on Feb. 9 1972. The skiing came to an end in the late 1970s. Source: City of Montreal archives CITY OF MONTREAL ARCHIVES

1987: Under a new mayor, Jean Doré, Montreal declares Mount Royal a heritage site to protect its character.

1990: Montreal’s public consultation agency holds hearings about the future of the mountain. It rejects several proposals, including a funicular, a cabane à sucre and an observation deck on the summit that would allow a “breathtaking 360-degree view.” It recommends eventually eliminating through traffic on Camillien-Houde Way.

2005: Quebec bolsters the protection of the mountain by declaring it a protected “historic and natural district.”

2008: City of Montreal renews the lease for the 112-metre Radio Canada transmission tower on Mount Royal. The rent: $500,000 per year, indexed to inflation.

Arrival of the elevator at the top of Mont Royal, about 1907. Source: McCord Museum

2018: Under new Mayor Valérie Plante, Montreal blocks through traffic on Mount Royal for the summer, with a view to eventually making the measure permanent. Proponents say it makes the mountain safer and more pleasant for pedestrians and cyclists. Critics argue it makes the park less accessible.

2019: After public hearings that draw record participation (13,000 people take part), Montreal’s public consultation agency rejects completely banning through traffic. It recommends turning the cross-mountain roadway into a slow-moving, tree-lined scenic drive “to enhance the Mount Royal experience and the discovery of its landscape and natural and cultural heritage while reducing and discouraging through traffic.” The Plante administration accepts the findings. While it works on a permanent plan for the road, the city slows traffic during the summer of 2019 by installing plastic posts, speed bumps and flower planters, as well as traffic lights that turn a small stretch into an “alternating one-way.”

 

 

[Chuck-A]

il y a 6 minutes, ScarletCoral a dit :

Article intéressant dans la Gazette qui liste les différents projets por le mont Royal. Certains loufoques

https://montrealgazette.com/news/local-news/mount-royal-saving-the-peoples-park-from-fanciful-schemes

Mount Royal: Saving 'the people's park' from fanciful schemes

Wow !! En effet, on avait plusieurs projets en tête... dont plusieurs n'ont (par chance) pas été réalisés.  Ouf... on l'a échappé bel (une Tour Eiffel montréalaise,... une statue de la Vierge Marie géante,... un gratte-ciel de 100 étages pour faire compétition avec la Tour du CN).  Non mais ! 

Merci pour ce partage @ScarletCoral ! 

[Rusty]

J'aurais aimé la tour comme celle de Paris ... j'aime limage ..... ca a pu marché

[Monsieur_MA]

J'aurais aimé le projet du téléphérique entre le parc Jean-Drapeau et le parc du Mont-Royal. Il aurait probablement suivi la rue Peel en passant entre les édifices d'aujourd'hui.

Il y en a un comme ça à Barcelone qui relie le Montjuic à la Barcelonetta.