Guaranteed Pure Milk bottle facts for kids
The Guaranteed Pure Milk bottle is a famous landmark in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. It's actually a huge water tower shaped like a milk bottle! You can find it at 1025 Lucien L'Allier Street. This amazing structure weighs about 6 tonnes (that's 6,000 kilograms!) and stands 10 meters (about 33 feet) tall.
What is the Giant Milk Bottle?
This unique bottle was designed in 1930 by architects Hutchison, Wood & Miller. It was built to advertise the Guaranteed Pure Milk Company, which started in 1900. The bottle shows off an Art Deco style, which was a popular design look in the 1920s and 1930s. The building it sits on used to be the main office for the milk company. You might even spot this building in the movie "Red 2", where it's shown as a secret facility. However, the giant milk bottle itself doesn't appear in the movie.
How Was It Built?
The huge milk bottle is made from strong, riveted steel. This means pieces of metal were joined together using special fasteners called rivets. The Dominion Bridge Company in Lachine built it. This giant bottle can hold a massive amount of liquid – about 250,000 liters (that's over 66,000 US gallons or 55,000 imperial gallons) of water!
A Landmark's Journey: From Use to Restoration
The milk bottle stopped being used as a water tower in the 1970s. Even after the dairy company was sold to Ault Foods in 1990, the bottle stayed with the building. For many years, it looked old and worn out.
However, in 2009, something great happened! The bottle was finally fixed up and restored. This amazing project happened thanks to many volunteers and over $100,000 in private donations. Groups like Heritage Montreal also worked hard to make sure this special landmark was saved. Now, it stands proudly as a reminder of Montreal's history.
