1000 de La Gauchetière

1000 de la Gauchetière is a skyscraper in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. It is named for its address at 1000 De la Gauchetière Street West in the downtown core. A popular feature of the building is its atrium, which holds a large ice skating rink. It is Montreal's tallest building as per the height definition of the National Building Code of Canada that is used by the city of Montreal, which excludes spires. For international comparison, spires are included as per the Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat's most widely used height definition for building height and the building is thus the second tallest building as per this definition. It rises to the maximum elevation approved by the city (the elevation of Mount Royal) at 232.5m above mean sea level with a total height from the average ground level around first floor to roof of 205m (673ft) and 51 floors. The building was not subject to the 1992 municipal maximum height of 200m because it was finished in 1992.

The building was designed by Lemay & Associates and Dimakopoulos & Associates architects, and built in 1992 at the same time as the nearby 1250 René-Lévesque which rises at 47 floors. It is an example of postmodern architecture, with a distinctive triangular copper roof as well as four copper-capped rotunda entrances at the tower base corners, which were inspired from the Mary, Queen of the World Cathedral on the north side of the building, following the trend set by Place de la Cathédrale (KPMG Tower) of Montreal skyscrapers borrowing some of their design from that of the nearest church. Also, the semispherical corner caps mirror the shape of the half-circular windows of neighbouring Marriott Château Champlain hotel, which were themselves inspired by the arches of the adjoining Windsor Station. The 1000 de la Gauchetière was built by Pomerleau Inc., the largest construction company in Quebec and one of the top general contractors in Canada. When it was built, 1000 de la Gauchetière was owned jointly by Bell Canada and Teleglobe. In 2002, SITQ, a division of the Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec (CDPQ), bought the building for CA$184 million. With the merger of all CDPQ real estate assets in 2011,

Building data from Wikidata (CC0); heights normalised. Summary from Wikipedia (CC BY-SA).