Maison Alcan facts for kids
Quick facts for kids Maison Alcan |
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Atholstan House, Maison Alcan complex, with Davis Building at rear and Berkeley Hotel building at right
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| General information | |
| Address | 1188 Sherbrooke Street West |
| Town or city | Montreal |
| Country | Canada |
| Completed | 1983 |
| Client | Lune Rouge |
| Owner | Guy Laliberté |
| Technical details | |
| Floor area | 270,000 sq ft (25,000 m2) |
| Design and construction | |
| Architect | Ray Affleck |
| Architecture firm | Arcop |
| References | |
| Official name: La Maison-Alcan | |
| Type: | Classified heritage immovable |
| Designated: | 2017-02-23 |
Maison Alcan (which means Alcan House in English) is a group of buildings on Sherbrooke Street in Montreal, Canada. It is located in an area known as the Golden Square Mile. For many years, it was the main office (or headquarters) for a big company called Alcan. This company is now part of Rio Tinto Alcan.
The complex was finished in 1983. It was special because it mixed brand new buildings with older ones that were fixed up. This way of building was a new idea for companies in Montreal. It showed that they could grow while still keeping important old buildings.
Maison Alcan brought together several historic buildings from the Golden Square Mile. These included Atholstan House, the Beique, the old Berkeley Hotel, Holland House, and even the Salvation Army's Montreal Citadel. A new building, called the Davis Building, was also added. This new part was covered in aluminum, a material Alcan was famous for. The Berkeley Hotel building is where you enter the complex and its large open space (called an atrium) from Sherbrooke Street.
Newspapers like La Presse said that Maison Alcan was the first time a major company in Montreal decided to save historic buildings when building a new main office. This was different from other projects, like when the nearby Van Horne Mansion was torn down. Maison Alcan helped save some of Montreal's architectural history.
Who Designed Maison Alcan?
The design for Maison Alcan came from a Montreal-based architecture firm called Arcop. Ray Affleck was the main architect leading the project. Other architects, Peter Rose and Peter Lanken, worked together on the inside layout and design of the buildings.
Why Was Maison Alcan Sold?
In 2011, news came out that Rio Tinto Alcan was planning to sell Maison Alcan. The company needed to make changes for a smaller number of employees. Renovating the buildings was going to be very expensive. Also, four of the seven buildings had a special historic status, which made renovations more difficult.
The complex was put up for sale by real estate experts Cushman & Wakefield. The lowest price they would accept was $30 million.
In 2015, Alcan moved its main office out of Maison Alcan. They moved to a new building called the Deloitte Tower. This new location is between Windsor Station and the Bell Centre.
On February 23, 2017, the Ministry of Culture and Communications officially recognized Maison Alcan as a heritage building. This means it is an important part of Quebec's history and must be protected.
