I remember reading a translation of The Hunchback of Notre Dame, and being surprised at how many paragraphs Hugo dedicated to critiquing the architecture of Paris. He was very concerned with good buildings and bad, and the attention paid by the builders.
Montreal is not Paris, but there are definitely indications that architecture is important. Why build a building if you’re not going to think it through, design it, and decorate it?
Anyway, here are two ornaments from a nearby elementary school.
According to their web site, École primaire Saint-Barthélemy serves pre-schoolers through sixth graders and focuses on providing a stimulating and creative learning environment. The fabulous Images & Édifices de Montréal web site tells us that the school was built in 1931.
One reply on “Architectural Detail”
Those are lovely, but they’re also entirely typical of public architecture in the 1930s. If you look at buildings of similar age around Los Angeles (and every other city that was around before WWII), you’ll find similar decoration. (The Art Deco Society of LA has great walking tours of the mid-Wilshire area pointing it out.) But that stuff is expensive because it takes time and skill to design and make. I’m afraid it isn’t so much the Montrealness you’re picking up on, but the postwar change in style and building philosophies. Maybe Montreal is less inclined to tear the old stuff down.