The iconic monument, the Montreal Old Port Clock Tower, celebrates a century of history this year.
This architectural jewel, very present in the Montreal landscape, allows its history and beauty to be told through the years and seasons.
A bit of history: The project to build a tower in the port of Montreal dates back to the end of World War I to honor the memory of the victims of this global conflict.
The monument’s design was entrusted to Paul Leclaire, an assistant engineer at the Montreal Harbor Commission, recalls Joanne Burgess, a professor in the history department at the University of Quebec in Montreal.
The graduate of the École polytechnique de Montréal had proposed a large white tower in the Beaux-Arts style, 45 meters high, according to the director of the Laboratory of History and Heritage of the UQAM.
“The top is crowned by a bell tower (which will never receive its bells) and each side of the tower has a huge dial whose mechanism is the work of Gillett & Johnston, a renowned English manufacturer,” explains the academic in a text on the Monument.
Today, the memorial welcomes sailors, tourists, and boaters who take advantage of the St. Lawrence River in Quebec’s most-visited recreational tourism site, with seven million visitors a year.
At the foot of the tower, visitors can take a dip in the city beach, which occasionally becomes a meeting place to admire the International des Feux Loto-Québec light shows.
As part of its summer program, the Plage de l’Horloge also hosts DJ nights to the delight of music lovers and lovers of idleness.