Les Cours Mont-Royal

Les Cours Mont-Royal is an upscale shopping centre in Downtown Montreal, Quebec, Canada which was converted from the former Mount Royal Hotel. 

Architecture

Designed by Ross and Macdonald, a prolific architectural firm in Montreal and across Canada, and completed in 1922, the Mount Royal Hotel was the largest of its kind in the British Empire, with 1,100 rooms.  Erected on the former site of the High School of Montreal at 1455 Peel Street, the construction of this building in the Beaux-Arts architectural style was part of a larger trend in the then-largest city of Canada to attract high-class tourists with luxurious edifices.  Other famous buildings by Ross and Macdonald in Montreal include Holt Renfrew, the Montreal Neurological Institute, the downtown Eaton's building (now Complexe les Ailes), the Dominion Square Building and Trinity Memorial Church in Westmount. 

The interior was gutted and the exterior was cleaned and repaired in the late 1980s.  The only internal remnant of the hotel is the ceiling of the big entrance lobby.  This lobby has a huge chandelier taken from the Monte Carlo casino.  The shopping area is organized around four large courts, hence the French name "Les Cours".  Under the main skylight there are six bird-human sculptures by the Inuit artist David Ruben Piqtoukun. 

Tenants and facilities
The top of the building has several floors of luxury condos.  They have separate elevators and entrances, set apart from those of the shopping centre's street doors and subway tunnels.  In between the top condo levels and the mall at the base there are several floors of office space. 

Les Cours Mont-Royal Shopping Centre is mainly composed of fashion retailers, with a few additional features and services including Montreal's largest spa (Spa Diva), a medical clinic (Les Cours Medical Centre) and a catwalk for fashion shows and other events. 

It is connected via the underground city to Peel metro station. 

References

Ulysses Travel Guides

External links 

Official website
Official Medical Clinic Website
Official Spa Website
Photograph:Mount Royal Hotel, 1923 - McCord Museum

Category:Shopping malls in Montreal
Category:Downtown Montreal
Category:United Hotels Company of America