Frontenac station - Large image

Ligne 1 verte FRONTENAC

Ligne 1 verte  Angrignon

Left arrow Papineau

Architect

Architects

Robillard, Jetté et Beaudoin
New headhouse (1999): Christian Bisson

Artist

Artist

None

Inaugurated

Start of service

December 19, 1966

Ligne 1 verte  H.-Beaugrand

Préfontaine Right arrow

Art & Architecture

Panorama of the trainroom from the Honoré-Beaugrand platform. The trainroom, built in tunnel, is lined with the grey and beige tiles used throughout the station.

This is an original network station whose platforms, built in tunnel, are set at a significant depth. The transept, connected to the platforms by paired, narrow stairwells, continues through a 90-degree curve to reach the foot of the escalators to the surface.

A row of stainless steel seats at platform level, with the grey and beige tiling it shares with the entire rest of the station. The end of the crossover, with a landing and stairs leading to the Honoré-Beaugrand platform.
One of the two staircases toward the Angrignon platform. The station's transept, seen from the far (Honoré-Beaugrand) end of the crossover.
The curved hallway connecting the foot of the escalators with the transept and crossover.

The trainroom is connected to the single entrance by two long flights of escalators (without accompanying stairs), joined by a wide landing.

One of the long flights of escalators connecting the platforms to the exit. The broad landing midway down the escalators to the platforms.

Unfortunately, the expanses of wall along these considerable distances have not been used to any decorating advantage. The entire interior is clad in nondescript grey and beige mosaic with brown floor tiles, and has no outstanding architectural features or works of art.

The west side of the station's headhouse. The plaza adjoining the headhouse also serves as a forecourt for the nearby cultural centre, and hosts a public market in summer. The round wing of the headhouse at left contains a room for bus drivers.East side of the headhouse. This plaza is below-grade and surrounded by stepped garden beds.
Façade of the headhouse from Rue Ontario, showing its curved front and clerestory windows above. Interior of the headhouse, lit by large round light fixtures and a clerestory (top left). The funnel-shaped room, with walls of stone blocks, flares outward toward the two exits at the corners of the fare-free zone. The gateline faces the head of the escalators down to the platforms.

The original headhouse was replaced in 1999. The new postmodern structure has a fan-shaped floor plan and elevation, expanding out and up from the head of the staircase. The interior, which contains the ticket hall, is lit by an array of unusual round light fixtures, as well as a clerestory on the north edge of the roof. The walls are built from stone blocks and trimmed with blue-painted steel ɪ-beams. A circular wing containing a room for bus drivers juts out from the northwest corner. The headhouse divides the block into a small garden, to the east, and a plaza hosting a public market, to the west.

The complete lack of anything eye-catching in this station is a sadly wasted opportunity.

Matt’s Rating

*

Accessibility

This station is not currently wheelchair-accessible. No plans to install elevators have yet been announced.

According to the Plan de développement d’accessibilité universelle de la STM 2012-2015 (p. 40), the predicted complexity of adding elevators at this station was rated as high (estimated cost over $18 million).

History & Trivia

Traffic

Ridership

2,491,164 entrances in 2025

40th busiest station

Platform depth

Interstation distances

Interstation Distances

To Papineau: 1157.57 metres
To Préfontaine: 1003.95 metres

Origin of the Name

Rue Frontenac. Louis de Buade, Comte de Frontenac et de Palluau (1622-1698), godson to Louis XIII, became governor general of New France in 1672. Despite conflicts with the governor of Montreal and the Sovereign Council over French expansion in the New World, he was appointed for a second term in 1689.

In 1690, he repelled the attack on Quebec City by English commander Sir William Phips, after having given his famous response to Phips’s emissary: “Je nay point de Reponse a faire a vostre general que par la bouche de mes cannons et a coups de fuzil” (“I have no answer to give your general other than from the mouths of my cannons and with gunfire”). He died in office in Quebec City.

The street name first appears in Lovell’s Montreal Directory in 1874.1

Name during planning phase: Ontario2

Louis de Buade, Comte de Frontenac

Louis de Buade, Comte de Frontenac
(Source3)

Trivia

  • The never-completed program of works of art on historical subjects proposed by the metro’s first art director, Robert LaPalme, anticipated that this station would feature an artwork about “the arrival of animals in Hochelaga”.4
  • The construction of this station suffered a serious accident on September 11, 1964: an explosion killed three workers and injured 17 more.5
  • The opening of this station was delayed until two months after the rest of the original network was opened on October 14, 1966. The delay was apparently due to difficulties with the excavation around the station. The delay in opening the terminus caused some particular headaches, since Frontenac was also planned as a major terminus for buses to the eastern part of the city.6
  • This station was the eastern terminus of the green line from its inauguration until 1976, when the line was extended to Honoré-Beaugrand.
  • The decor at platform level has been modified since the station was opened. Previously, grey and blue mosaic tiles forming horizontal gradients lined the walls, with the floors and highlights in shades of brown and orange similar to the former decor at Guy-Concordia station.
Dignitaries arrive for the station’s inauguration ceremony, December 18, 1966   Dignitaries on the platform during the station’s inauguration ceremony, December 18, 1966. On the bench, left to right: Lucien L’Allier, president of the Commission de transport de Montréal; Paul-Émile Sauvageau, MNA for Bourget; and Maurice Allard, president of the Association des hommes d’affaires du quartier Frontenac. Note the original wall tiling pattern behind them.

The station’s inauguration ceremony on December 18, 1966
(Source7)

Former decor at platform level

Former decor at platform level
(Source8)

The station's former headhouse prior to 1999.

The station’s former headhouse prior to 1999
(Source9)

Aerial view of the former headhouse and former arrangement of the surrounding plaza

Aerial view of the former headhouse and former arrangement of the surrounding plaza
(Source10)

General Information

Platform diagram

Most convenient metro cars to use when travelling to this station

Platform diagram - Frontenac station

Station surroundings

Frontenac - Station surroundings

Station address

Borough of Ville-Marie
2570 Rue Ontario Est, at Rue Frontenac

OpenStreetMap link
Google Maps link

STM neighbourhood map (PDF)

Nearby attractions

Official website

Service information, opening hours, frequency, bus routes

STM logo

Most recent update: October 8, 2026

References
  1. Lovell’s Montreal Directory for 1874-85. (1874). Montreal: John Lovell & Son. Bibliothèque et Archives nationales du Québec, 0005993752. See p. 126 (“Street Directory,” s.v. “Frontenac”). ↩
  2. Clairoux, Benoît. (2001). Le métro de Montréal: 35 ans déjà. Montreal: Hurtubise HMH. P. 110. ↩
  3. Image source: Aegidius Fauteux. Louis de Buade, Comte de Frontenac et de Palluau. 19th century. Print. Source: Archives de la Ville de Montréal, CA M001 BM001-05-P0734. Used under the Creative Commons BY-NC-SA 2.5 CA License. ↩
  4. "Une fois décoré, le métro sera un livre d'images sur Montréal." (1968, February 25). Le Petit Journal, p. 7. Source: Bibliothèque et Archives nationales du Québec. ↩
  5. “Explosion dans le métro: 3 morts, 17 blessés.” (1964, September 12.) Le Devoir, p. 1. ↩
  6. Tremblay, Albert. (1966, August 3.) Trois stations ne seront pas prêtes pour l’ouverture du métro en octobre. La Presse, p. 1. ↩
  7. Photograph by René Picard, La Presse, December 18, 1966. Fonds La Presse. Bibliothèque et Archives nationales du Québec, 06M,P833,S5,D1966-0382, no. 18, 20. ↩
  8. © STM archives. ↩
  9. Source: Archives de la Ville de Montréal, VM097-Y-02-D005A-011-03. Used under the Creative Commons BY-NC-SA 2.5 CA License. ↩
  10. Gaston, J. The Montréal Métro. Montreal: Bureau de transport métropolitain, 1976. Bibliothèques et Archives nationales du Québec: 0001096208. ↩