Saint-Louis Square

Saint Louis Square Square Saint-Louis
240px Saint-Louis Square, looking east from Laval Street, fountain in the distance, 2005.
Type	Town square
Location	Le Plateau-Mont-Royal, Montreal, Quebec, Canada
Coordinates
Created	1876
Operated by	City of Montreal

Saint-Louis Square (French: square Saint-Louis) is an urban square in Montreal's Plateau Mont Royal. It resides on the major street Saint Denis and is surrounded on 3 sides by Rue Du Square-Saint-Louis.

The square is located on the site of the city's former reservoir, which was functional until 1852, and replaced by the McTavish reservoir, after the Great Fire of 1852. The square was created in 1876, and named for two businessmen, brothers Emmanuel and Jean-Baptiste Saint-Louis.

The Project for Public Spaces has called the square "the closest thing to a European neighborhood square you'll find this side of the Atlantic."

Structures

The square features a Victorian fountain as its centrepiece. A bust of Octave Crémazie was unveiled on June 24, 1906, designed by Louis-Philippe Hébert, near the home of Émile Nelligan, facing the square. Nelligan himself was honoured with a bust in the square 99 years later, on June 7, 2005, designed by Roseline Granet.

Surrounding buildings

File:Carré Saint-Louis.jpg

Detail of Victorian row houses facing the square, fall 2011.

The square is also notable for the Victorian style residences facing the park. The Union des écrivaines et des écrivains québécois is based in one such structure on Laval Street, which was the residence of Claude Jutra.