Marché Bonsecours
Montreal
The Marché Bonsecours is a large covered market from the 1800s in Vieux-Montréal. After its restoration, the building found new uses.
A palace for the market
The city chose William Footner's design through a competition. Work began in 1844, and the market opened in January 1847. George Browne finished the interiors by 1852. Before that, this land held a hotel and one of the most important private houses in the city. Footner wanted a building worthy of the St. Lawrence River and of the city.
Not just vegetables
Meat, fruit and vegetables were sold on the ground floor. The upper floors had halls for shows, music and meetings. In 1850 the province's first fair was held here.
A new life
In the 1960s the market closed. Then the building was carefully restored, stone by stone, and found new uses. In 1984 it became a National Historic Site of Canada.
To look at from outside
Look at the long grey stone façade, the columns at the entrance and the dome above the centre. From the waterfront the façade looks even better: Footner wanted people arriving by ship to notice it right away.
