Exploration

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1

Everyone to Parliament!

2

The Present-Day Place D'Youville

3

Place Royale

4

Place d’Armes

5

Notre-Dame Street

6

Champ-de-Mars

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First Church

Illustration of Place d’Armes in Montréal, dated 1830. Notre-Dame Church stands at the centre of the square. Built of stone, the church has a blue roof. Passersby stroll across the square.

Robert Auchmuty Sproule and William Satchwell Leney, "Place d’Armes, Montréal" (detail), McCord Stewart Museum, M970.67.26.

The Sulpicians arrived in Montréal in 1657. Six years later, royal authorization allowed them to purchase the entire island. As seigneurs, they took charge of managing the city and the community. They also became the curés of Notre-Dame parish… but their first true church was still only a plan on paper.

In 1672, led by their superior, François Dollier de Casson, they finally began work on the very first Notre-Dame Church, in the very heart of the street that bears the same name. It was an imposing sight! But the work was long and difficult: the project would not be completed until 1683.

At Last, a New Church!

19th-century lithograph of Notre-Dame Church on Place d’Armes in Montréal. The church is Gothic in style, with three large arches on its façade. The bell tower of the former church stands to the right. A line of worshippers on the church forecourt heads inside the church.

William Henry Bartlett, "The Cathedral, Montreal", Pointe-à-Callière, F_1013_W73_1842_t2_pIV.

As the number of parishioners grew in the 19th century, Notre-Dame Church became too small. In 1823, a committee was formed to select the architect for a new church. The goal: to seat up to 10,000 worshippers… and build the finest church in America. Nothing less!

The commission went to James O’Donnell, a New York architect of Irish origin. His design was ambitious and embraced the Neo-Gothic style, then at the height of its popularity.

In 1829, the new church opened its doors—but without its bell towers. The main body of the old church was demolished in 1830, leaving only its tower and steeple in the middle of Notre-Dame Street until the eventual construction of the new towers. The old tower and its steeple were demolished in 1843.

Thinking Big…

19th-century illustration of Notre-Dame Church on Place d’Armes in Montréal. The church is Gothic in style, with three large arches on its façade. Stone buildings line the square. In the foreground, figures in period dress move about, some accompanied by dogs. On the left, a horse-drawn carriage can be seen.

John Murray, Adolphus Bourne engraving, "Place d’Armes, Montréal", 1843, Library and Archives Canada, C-041453.

In 1842, the construction work finally came to an end with the addition of the two bell towers. At its inauguration, Notre-Dame Church was the largest in all of North America. From 1844 to 1846, the towers were open “to anyone wishing to climb to the top, 215 feet high, from where one can see the entire city and the surrounding countryside.”

The church’s set back from the square opened up Notre-Dame Street and confirmed Place d’Armes as a true urban centre, redefining the heart of the old city.

Then-and-Now

The interactive feature lets you compare how a place’s architecture and urban landscape have changed over time. You do this by dragging a vertical bar in the centre of the image, moving your mouse from left to right—and back again—to reveal the changes between 1848 and 2025. 1848 image: When the bar is positioned all the way to the left, you see the 3D reconstruction of 1848. It shows Place d’Armes: on the left, Notre-Dame Church with its Neo-Gothic façade, featuring a tower and detailed sculptures; on the right, buildings of varying height and exterior finishes line the square. A black lamppost is visible at the centre of the square.The interactive feature lets you compare how a place’s architecture and urban landscape have changed over time. You do this by dragging a vertical bar in the centre of the image, moving your mouse from left to right—and back again—to reveal the changes between 1848 and 2025. 2025 image: When the bar is positioned all the way to the right, you see the contemporary photograph from 2025. It shows Place d’Armes, with Notre-Dame Basilica in Montréal on the left, highlighting its Neo-Gothic façade with one slender tower and detailed sculptures, and, on the right, a black glass building. The foreground of the image shows the middle of the square, with a monument and pedestrians.

1848 image: Guy Lessard, Pointe-à-Callière. / 2025 image: Guy Lessard, Pointe-à-Callière.

See Notre-Dame Church, along with part of the Seminary’s new east wing, as it stands today.

Look closely behind the carriage, and you’ll catch sight of the first storey of the east wing in 1848. In place of the lamppost at the centre of the square, a monument commemorating Paul de Chomedey de Maisonneuve was erected in 1895.