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Because History repeats itself...
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Dow Planetarium
1000 Saint-Jacques Street West
Architectural Value
Inaugurated in 1966, the Montreal Planetarium was designed by the architects David, Barrott, Boulva. Its modern architecture is interesting for its play of volumes, notably for the truncated roof that reveals the presence of the spherical central volume and for the modules which spring from the building’s façade suggesting a structure about to launch itself. Its most notable architectural element is on the inside – its spherical core is unique in Montreal and could provide an exceptional opportunity as a site for, for example, contemporary artistic creation. The Planetarium is adjacent to the former Chaboillez Square, most of which was cut off by access roads to the Ville-Marie autoroute. Consequently, the Dow Planetarium plays a significant role as a backdrop for Peel Street, a key axis linking the mountain and the river.
Historic Value
The Montreal Planetarium was the first public planetarium in Canada. Its creation, as a result of a substantial donation from neighboring Dow Breweries, demonstrates the preoccupation with popular scientific education in Montreal during Expo 67 and the era of space exploration.
The Threat
The City of Montreal’s plan to relocate the Planetarium to the vicinity of the Botanical Gardens, part of a project to group together all of the city’s scientific museums (Muséums Nature), may be warranted for practical reasons and a legitimate need to modernise the Planetarium, but it would result in the loss of the primary function of the planetarium structure and could serve as a pretext for its demolition. This would deprive Montreal - a city recently given the prestigious title of a UNESCO City of Design - of an exceptional facility, one that could contribute to the cultural revitalization of this part of downtown that borders the commercial centre of the city, the École de Technologie Supérieure and the Cité du Multimédia.
Initiatives of Héritage Montréal
Taking into consideration the unique character of this building and its potential for creative reuse, Heritage Montreal has contacted government policy makers, the heads of Muséums Nature and the adjacent École de Technologie Supérieure in an effort to sensitize them to the need to preserve and to make use of the remarkable interior in the event that the Planetarium is relocated. The Planetarium’s architectural heritage significance was highlighted during the activities marking the 2009 edition of the Day of World Heritage Sites and Monuments whose theme was Scientific Heritage. Heritage Montreal has also established positive contact with two highly regarded cultural organizations, the Société des Arts Technologiques and the Ligue Nationale d’Improvisation, who have both expressed an interest in the site.
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