Place Ville Marie

Place Ville Marie, often shortened to PVM, is an office and shopping complex in downtown Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Its main building, 1 Place Ville Marie, is a cross-shaped, 47-story tower about 188 m tall, built in the International style in 1962 as the headquarters of the Royal Bank of Canada.

Four lower office buildings were added in 1963 and 1964, and an underground shopping plaza lies below. The tower is the hub of Montreal's Underground City (RÉSO), a network of tunnels that Wikipedia calls the world's busiest, linking more than 1,600 businesses, subway stations and a rail terminal. It is still the head office of the Royal Bank of Canada.

Built over a railway trench

The site was once a huge railway trench cut into the side of Mount Royal, between the tunnel entrance and Central Station. Most of the building was built over the tracks, so it needed to resist shaking from the trains. As a result it is the most earthquake-resistant office tower in Montreal.

The developer, William Zeckendorf, offered a nearby club the top floor in exchange for its land, but the club said no.

The beacon on top

A rotating beacon on the rooftop turns counter-clockwise at night and sweeps up to four white horizontal beams across the sky. It is not an official aviation signal.

The plaza and the buildings around the tower have been refreshed several times over the years. The plaza on top of the shopping promenade has been refreshed, replacing much of its gray concrete.

On the globe

The model shows the cross-shaped tower with a rotating beacon on the roof.