Christ Church Cathedral (Montreal)

The Christ Church Cathedral is an Anglican cathedral in the Canadian city of Montreal and the seat of the Diocese of Montreal the Anglican Church of Canada. It is located on the rue Sainte -Catherine Ouest 635, between the Union Avenue and Rue University. The building in neo-Gothic style was built in 1857 to 1859. Since 1988, it is a National Historic Site. Beneath the cathedral is the shopping center Promenades Cathédrale.

History

An Anglican parish there was in Montreal since its conquest by British troops in 1760. Initially, the believers took advantage of several Roman Catholic chapels. The first purely Anglican church was built in 1814 on Rue Notre -Dame. After the founding of the Diocese of Montreal in 1850, she received the status of a cathedral. In 1856 it was completely destroyed by fire, only an altarpiece remained.

The architect Frank Wills, who also designed Christ Church Cathedral in Fredericton, was awarded the contract to design a new building. However, he died before construction began, whereupon Thomas Seaton Scott took over the management. The works were completed in 1859, the cathedral was consecrated in 1867.

Architecturally, the Cathedral has always been considered an outstanding example of English Gothic Revival, however, the structural analysis was deficient. Because of the soft subsoil of heavy stone church tower began to sag and deform. In the 1920s, he tended more than one meter in a southerly direction. The 1600 -ton tower had to be canceled in 1927. 1939, a new concrete foundation was poured. An anonymous donation in 1940 allowed the construction of a much easier tower with a core of aluminum.

In 1987, just north of the Tour KPMG, a 146 -meter-high skyscraper. The project included the construction of a parking garage and a shopping center below the cathedral. For this purpose, 33 hollow cylindrical steel piers ( caissons ) were driven into the rock below the cathedral foundation, ten of them from the crypt. About the caissons massive prestressed reinforced concrete beams were inserted, bearing the weight of the cathedral. In the area of the church tower had to be dug by hand.

Organ

The organ was in 1981 by the organ builder Karl Wilhelm ( Mont -Saint -Hilaire, Quebec ) was built. The instrument has 42 registers on three manual and pedal works. The play and Registertrakturen are mechanical.

  • Couplers: I / II, III / II, I / P, II / P III / P

Promenades Cathédrale

In the vault beneath the cathedral, the Promenades Cathédrale, a shopping center with 60 shops and restaurants are located on two floors. It forms part of the Montreal underground city; direct accesses consist, inter alia to the mall Eaton Centre and the subway station McGill.

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