Jean Dumontier, an architect who helped design Montreal’s subway and adorned its walls with his art, has died in his early 80s.
A spokesperson for the city’s transit agency confirmed the death, which Montreal’s La Presse reported was due to cancer.
Jean Dumontier, one of the first architects involved in building the Montreal metro system, has died at the age of 83. Photo by ProtoplasmaKid via Wikimedia Commons.
“The (agency) learns with much sadness of the departure of a great builder of Montreal’s metro, and underlines the important heritage he leaves to Montrealers and especially the hundreds of thousands of clients who use the network daily,” the Societe de Transport de Montreal said in a statement., The native of Labelle, Que., in the Laurentians area north of Montreal, designed the plans for the now-renamed Ile-Sainte-Helene and Longueuil subways stations, which were among the flagship stations opened just before the 1967 World Fair.
He was also the first architect to create the art for the stations he designed, including four painted concrete murals in the Ile-Sainte-Helene station, since renamed after former mayor Jean Drapeau.
The distinctive yellow murals represent the character of Atlas, who in Greek mythology was condemned to hold up the heavens. They were created to tie in with the Expo 67 theme of “man and his world,” according to the agency’s website.
Dumontier later served as the metropolitan transit agenc...