Overall view showing large public square covering four urban blocks. Photo credit: NIPPAYSAGE
Viger Square is about to reclaim its past glory thanks to a complete redesign and redevelopment led by the landscape architects at NIPPAYSAGE.
Work will begin on the first phase, affecting the square?s two western blocks ? part of Montreal?s 375th anniversary legacy ? in the spring of 2017. The two eastern blocks will be the focus of the next phase, completing the revitalization of Montreal?s very first square outside the old town?s fortifications.
Historical context
Viger Square, bounded by Guy-Frégault St. to the west, Saint-André St. to the east, Viger Ave. to the north and Saint-Antoine St. to the south, was the first large public square created in Montreal. In the 19th century, it had the distinction of being the largest public square in Canada. Viger Square was a prestigious, lively and much-loved space designed in the finest tradition of public gardens. The northward shift of elite francophone residential areas in the 1920s marked the beginning of the area?s gradual abandonment and decline, which accelerated after the crash of 1929. Between 1963 and 1984, the construction of the metro tunnel and the Ville-Marie Expressway tunnel under Viger Square led to the square?s demolition and reconstruction. Despite the participation of three prominent artists from the Quebec and Canadian modernist movement ? Charles Daudelin, Claude Théberge and Peter Gnass ? the square never rec...