After much uncertainty, we are pleased to announce that, thanks to a collaboration between Héritage Montréal and the Montréal Sign Project, four signs from The Bay’s downtown Montréal store have been saved.
The two larger exterior “La Baie” signs, installed nearly twenty feet above the sidewalk, were located at the corners of De Maisonneuve and Union, and De Maisonneuve and Aylmer. Two smaller signs framed the main Sainte-Catherine Street entrances facing Phillips Square. For decades, these signs helped shape the visual identity of this landmark site and of Montréal’s commercial landscape.
The preservation of these iconic signs is excellent news. Yet behind these recovered letters remains the uncertain future of the building that carried them for decades. Héritage Montréal will continue to follow this file closely to ensure that this major downtown landmark receives the attention and protection it deserves.
This project was jointly led by Héritage Montréal and the Montréal Sign Project, with the contributions of Matt Soar, Anthony Plagnes Payá, Dinu Bumbaru, and Pedro Huber. A huge thank you to Enseignes et Lettrage Robert for the remarkable restoration work carried out on these valuable witnesses to Montréal’s urban heritage, to the citizens who alerted us to their fate, and to the late Hudson’s Bay Company, whose collaboration made this operation possible.