Built on the northern side of Mount Royal in Côte-Des-Neiges district, the location of the university is at the height of his ambition, this location and the view that we have is an important part of this building.
This construction is undoubtedly the greatest achievement of the architect Ernest Cormier.
The construction of the main Université de Montréal building (now Roger Gaudry building) was built on a really long period: From 1924 to 1943 and was interrupted for 10 year after the Great Depression of 1929.
Architect Ernest Cormier chosen to reflect the harsh Quebecois climate by choosing a central building instead of many building like its use to be done in main American university and in the rest of Canada. That made the UdeM the largest university building in the world at the time of its construction.
Today the University of Montreal has many buildings in which the main building serves as the focal point. Interestingly, the famous tower of the university contains archives and is not open to the public higher then the 6 th floor. It has a lot of resemblance between the UdeM tower and the Capitol in the state of Nebraska.
This building has an Art-deco architectural style.
One of the interesting features of this building is the yellow brick covering the entire construction. Less expensive than the original grey stone, Ernest Cormier liked that particularly and this choice will have a big influence on other building on the University of Montreal. Campus. The brick used, industrial manufacturing, came from the Belden Brick Company of Ohio. This yellow brick, says Mr Cormier "give the walls a more rich appearance"
Fortunately for Montreal architectural reputation, Ernest Cormier did not drawn exactly what was first asked: A gothic style building, like most other large buildings of its kind. At the time of its construction, this construction attracted a lot of controversy because of his modern art deco style.
