Dominion Square Building

The Dominion Square Building, a Beaux-Arts jewel

The Montreal audio-guided tour lets you discover the Dominion Square Building, an emblematic downtown building that forms the corner before you. Built in the late 1920s, it illustrates the Beaux-Arts style, which blends eras and influences.

An innovative shopping arcade

This twelve-storey building was conceived as an indoor shopping arcade, which was truly innovative at the time. Its construction cleverly answered the many building-permit rules of the early twentieth century. It had two levels of shops, two levels of underground parking and the city's first escalators, with access to the shops from each side.

What there is to see

The building stands out for its ornate façade and its elegant corner, typical of the Beaux-Arts style of the 1920s. Heritage-listed, it testifies to the rise of downtown Montreal and the architectural daring of the interwar years. It is a valued landmark, now housing offices and shops.

Practical information

The Dominion Square Building is in downtown Montreal, near Dorchester Square. An office and retail building, its interior follows its own access conditions; the façade can be contemplated freely from the street at all hours.

When was the Dominion Square Building built?

It was built in the late 1920s, in the Beaux-Arts style, as an indoor shopping arcade, which was innovative at the time.

What made the building innovative?

Conceived as an indoor shopping arcade, it had two levels of shops, two levels of underground parking and the first escalators in Montreal.