Place Ville Marie - Men

Her rotating light may not guide planes as our parents would have us believe, but along with her great cruciform shape that light has because a true symbol of Montreal. 

The architects of this remarkable modern work were the New York firm of I.M. Ming Pei and associates, who would gain international renown with their design of the Louvre pyramid.

This "modern-day cross," a shape chosen on functional and economic grounds, would rapidly become a symbol of Montreal. Examples of its practicality are that every floor could provide four major corporations with their own main floor entrance on each floor and that it would double the number of corner offices, much sought after for their prestige

In the same way, the searchlight beams sweeping over the city every night like some futuristic vision are an essential part of the Montreal imagination.

As of the official inauguration of Place Ville Marie in 1962, the status of worldclass city was bestowed upon Montréal.