Le Franco-Américain
Posted: October 18, 2012 Filed under: Uncategorized 7 CommentsLe Franco-Américain is situated on rue St. Denis, south of Ste. Catherine. I was curious to find out more about this beautiful facade and how the building got its name but my research turned up nothing. Well almost nothing. Someone who photographed it and posted on Flickr said that it may have at one time housed a faculty of dentistry but I am still curious to know where the name came from.
Lovely drawing! It’s a shame that such a beautiful facade, which was obviously carved with great skill and must have been part of an important building at the time it was created, is now anonymous.
Thanks Kathleen! I see from Jane’s comment that this was a hotel at one time.
This is so beautiful.
Placed on the pages so carefully. A delicate, delicious composition.
Thanks Karen!
According to these articles, Franco-American comes from a later company, and the original building has quite a story. This street was home to Laval university in Montreal and many intellectuals until the 20s when they migrated to Outremont and the area became a red light district until the 1950s.
http://www.heritagemontreal.org/site/le-franco-americain/
http://quebec.huffingtonpost.ca/martin-berube/patrimoine-montreal-edifice-papineau-histoire_b_8471276.html
Thanks Johan. Wow, you went quite far back to find this post. I had to go back and find the original post. Thanks for filling me in on this.