Bonsecours Market

Bonsecours Market (French: Marché Bonsecours) is a two-story domed public market located in Montreal, Quebec, Canada at 350 Rue Saint-Paul in Old Montreal.^[1] For more than 100 years, it was the main public market in the Montreal area. It also briefly accommodated the Parliament of United Canada for one session in 1849.

Bonsecours Market
Marché Bonsecours
Bonsecours Market, as seen from the Old Port of Montreal
General information
Architectural style	Neoclassical architecture
Location	350 Saint-Paul east Montreal, Quebec, Canada H2Y 1H2
Coordinates	45°30′32″N 73°33′05″W
Construction started	1844
Completed	1847
Design and construction
Architect(s)	William Footner
Website
http://www.marchebonsecours.qc.ca/en/index.html
National Historic Site of Canada
Official name	Bonsecours Market National Historic Site of Canada
Designated	1984

Named for the adjacent Notre-Dame-de-Bon-Secours Chapel, it opened in 1847. During 1849 the building was used for the Legislative Assembly of the Province of Canada. The market's design was influenced by Dublin's Customs House.^[2]

History

Market in 1940

Construction of this Neoclassical^[3] building began in 1844 and were completed in 1847.^[4] It was designed by British architect William Footner,^[5] and alterations completed in 1860 were designed by Irish-born Montreal architect George Browne (1811–1885).^[6] Bonsecours Market also housed Montreal City Hall between 1852 and 1878. The former city hall chambers later became a 3700-square-meter meeting room.

The market building was also a venue for banquets, exhibitions and other festivals. Browne was charged with adding a 900-square-meter concert hall and banquet hall.

The building continued to house the farmer's central market,^[1] an increasingly multicultural mix of small vendors,^[7] until it was closed in 1963 and slated for demolition. However, the building was later transformed into a multi-purpose facility, with a mall that houses outdoor cafés, restaurants and boutiques on the main and second floors, as well as a rental hall and banquet rooms on the lower and upper floors and municipal office space.

Bonsecours Market was designated a National Historic Site of Canada in 1984.^[8][9]

Legacy

Bonsecours Market at night.

On 28 May 1990 Canada Post issued 'Bonsecours Market, Montreal' designed by Raymond Bellemare. The stamp features an image of the Bonsecours Market, which was designed by Montreal architect William Footner and constructed from 1842 to 1845. The $5 stamps are perforated 13.5 and were printed by British American Bank Note Company & Canadian Bank Note Company, Limited.^[10]