Montreal's Gare Viger undergoes perhaps its grandest makeover in 100 years

Place Viger gets makeover The once glamourous ‘Château Viger’ hotel has been converted into a public space in Montreal.

Built in 1898, it was known as the glamourous Chateau Viger Canadian Pacific Railway Hotel. While over the decades, Gare Viger near Old Montreal has had a few makeovers, the most recent may be the grandest yet.

This 'château' on the corner of St-Antoine Street and Berri Street was designed by the famous American architect Bruce Price, who also designed the Chateau Frontenac in Quebec City and the original Banff Springs Hotel in Alberta.

After it was built, "it was then owned by the city for years and years," explained Anthony O'Brien, senior managing editor of The Jesta Group that reimagined this site.

"When we first bought it in 2012, there was remediation work to be done in the basement. There was some asbestos, but basically, it was cleared to the brick, and we turned it into open-concept office space for which Lightspeed is the anchor tenant of the chateau," he explained.

The Jesta Group has been working on this project for over a decade, and now the new "Place Gare Viger," a six-acre campus, is open to the public. The central area, once a parking lot, is now a green, shady courtyard.

"People come to walk their dogs, come relax, have lunch outside," said O'Brien.

Aside from the Gare Viger, there's a brand new hotel, restaurant, gym and office spaces on site. The modern buildings are mirrored to reflect the glory of the oldest one.

"The exterior of it is very important to the Minister of Culture, for the City of Montreal, and the work that been done here is actually quite important as the eastern entrance to the city," said O'Brien.

Montreal archival photos show off the old-world elegance of the station and hotel more than 100 years ago. Images from the 1950s depict the Montrealers who worked in city offices inside the building known as "Edifice Jacques-Viger" in that era.

Place Gare Viger is free to visit.