Place Ville Marie

This is where modern Montreal declared itself. Pei's cruciform plan isn't decoration — it's why the tower reads as four distinct slabs from every angle and why the plaza below became the hinge of the whole downtown grid. Stand on the redesigned esplanade and trace how the streets answer to it.

I.M. Pei's 1962 cruciform tower — the building that organized modern downtown Montreal and birthed the Underground City beneath it.

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