Art & Architecture

The construction of this station was marred with unexpected difficulty. On March 20, 1974, the construction site caved in due to the weak surrounding bedrock. As a result, the station’s plan had to be hurriedly modified to deal with the weakness. As at Charlevoix, built in a similar rock formation, the station’s width was therefore reduced to a minimum.

Thus, instead of a conventional side-platform trainroom, the station has platforms on two different levels, fitted into a mined volume half as wide. On entering the station, the tracks diverge vertically, with the Honoré-Beaugrand tracks continuing above the Angrignon platform and the Angrignon tracks placed under the Honoré-Beaugrand platform. This is the only stacked-platform station in the network in which both platforms are positioned to the left of incoming trains.

The accesses also had to be made more complex to reach the two different levels. The unfortunate result was a confusing and labyrinthine station, full of twists and turns.

There are two entrances, each connected to the platforms by long transepts. One is located a block away from the platforms, at the corner of Rue de l’Église and Rue Ross; it is connected to the station via a tunnel some 85 metres long, ending in a transept at the centre of the platforms.

The other, at the corner of Rue Galt and Rue Wellington, connects to the western end of the platforms.

Each of the two transepts connects to a deep stairwell and escalator well leading down to the lower Angrignon platform, and a much shorter flight of stairs leading to the Honoré-Beaugrand platform. One unusual sight on the latter platform, underneath the transept leading to the De l’Église exit, is a maintenance area which is open to view, facing the platform across the track, and blocked off by only a railing.

Unlike any other station, the staircases to the Angrignon platform are separated from the corresponding escalators. The stairwells are narrow, twisty, and claustrophobic, presenting a somewhat intimidating aspect. However, this arrangement does create some unique and interesting points of view not seen elsewhere in the network, notably in the Wellington access, where the stairs and escalators face openings onto the tracks, revealing trains speeding into and out of the station.

At street level, the headhouses are quite handsome and striking Brutalist structures in bare concrete and glass. They are made up of a series of nested masses of varying heights and widths defined by rectangular concrete arches projecting from a high side wall, each arch slightly rotated relative to the last. The concrete surfaces are connected by glass, forming clerestory windows that allow light through the concrete walls and emphasize the edges between the horizontal and vertical surfaces.² The two largest arches in each headhouse have one wall shifted outward to shelter the main entrance.

The interior of the Wellington entrance has an open stairwell providing an attractive overlook onto the ticket hall below.

The station’s decoration is also a positive aspect. At ticket hall, transept, and platform levels, the walls are enhanced by stripes and circle motifs in brown, red, and ochre glazed ceramic tiles.

Moreover, bas-relief angular geometric friezes by Claude Théberge and Antoine D. Lamarche (similar to the same artists’ works at Verdun) enhance the all-concrete architecture of the upper levels. The reliefs can be seen in the interior of the headhouses and in the looming stepped blocks that form the ceiling above the escalators down to the transepts. They are also complemented by simpler designs in the walls of the rest of the station, pushing the integration of art and architecture further by blurring the boundaries between the station’s artwork and the rest of its decoration.²

However, these areas are also not without their problems, such as low ceilings over the stairwells in the western entrance, which had to be cut with concrete saws to provide sufficient clearance. The architects’ task was certainly difficult, given the conditions and unexpected constraints; but the result is still unfortunate.