| Posted by nostra-YOUPPI! |
3/24/2007 5:51 PM | remove |
i remember before the latest addition how the entire building was on stilts and there was even a street running on the diagonal underneath.
from left to right at the top. Tramways building (2 floors removed for loading docks) fire station (facadism the front still stands propped up like a corpse) the american tavern (birthplace of trivial pursuit caugth fire 3 weeks before it was set to be demolished) the rogers and king building (home to russell books) it was also torn down.
that concrete girder with the circles now has windows from the washrooms into one of the convention halls
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| Posted by Charlie_Dunver |
3/28/2007 8:50 PM | remove |
That wasn't such a great idea-- Chinatown might have been dumpy but it was pretty cool! And the Palais as built then was wayyyyy too small, less floor space than Bonaventure. But getting it on top of the metro line was a trick right out of Drapeau's book. Of all the mayors his project's may have chewed up more neighborhoods than any other.
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| Posted by nostra-YOUPPI! |
3/28/2007 10:26 PM | remove |
the metro wasnt the main hurdle, it was putting it on stilts on top of the ville marie trench,
even more impressive was squeezing a couple of decks between the bottom of the building and the highway AFTER it was built
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| Posted by Charlie_Dunver |
4/5/2007 4:22 AM | remove |
That s just engineering braggadio. What actually happened was that they built a small mediocre convention centre. How were we going to attract "high roller" conventions with that thing? Toronto has the equivalent of 5 or more Palais's right on it s waterfront.
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| Posted by nostra-YOUPPI! |
4/5/2007 4:54 AM | remove |
i do agree on the size, it was tiny, didnt even have ramps to access the exhibit halls, why do you think the car show some years was split between the palais du commerce and place bonaventure in the pre roof big owe days.
anyways, they renovated it yet in the states convention centers newer than ours have been leveled for new structures
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| Posted by Charlie_Dunver |
4/5/2007 7:31 PM | remove |
Because there is gazillions of dollars being made with conventions and trade shows in the US. Here they expanded in the hopes of attracting more buisness.
I used to set up a lot of trade show display booths at Bonaventure/Palais. Palais loading dock/truck entrance was a joke for a newer building with ambition. Bonaventure, while very eccentric, was easy access with a lot of space for trucks, often tricky but very doable.
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| Posted by Charlie_Dunver |
4/5/2007 7:33 PM | remove |
Actually Bonaventure was tricky to get to as only so many trucks could go up/down the ramp at a time, but once up there was room to manouver.
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| Posted by nostra-YOUPPI! |
4/6/2007 5:05 AM | remove |
exactly, at least it had a ramp!
when i worked at the big owe its biggest fault was the lack of loading docks, any cars for the car show were brought in by the right field ramp to les grands hauteurs, pb1 to access the field and grands hauteurs and the marathon door. the only way to get cars into the 100 concourse was by the tricky ambulance door because the garage doors from PA1 were blocked off when they built offices in there. there is a garage door to the mezzanine over les grands hauteurs but its a tricky entrance
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| Posted by Emperor Wang |
10/7/2008 1:11 AM | remove |
Victor Prus was the architect of the original Palais des Congres, the same guy who designed the Bonaventure metro station.
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