The Nuns' Island gas station is a modernist-style building on Nuns' Island in Montreal, Quebec. It was built as a filling station in 1969 from a project of Ludwig Mies van der Rohe. Closed for several years, it was later converted to a community centre.[1][2]
It was the first gas station on the Island of Montreal commissioned by Imperial Oil.[3] It was also one of four buildings that Mies designed on Nuns' Island.[4]
Community centre
When the filling station closed in 2008,[5] the borough of Verdun transformed the building into a community arts centre, La Station.[4][6] Eric Gauthier was the lead architect on the project, which saw the two glass pavilions rebuilt to their original 3,000- and 1,000 sqft sizes.[7] The community centre opened in February 2012.[8]
La Station is a community centre for teens and people over 50 years of age. The two main buildings are called the salle blanche (English: white room) and salle noire (English: black room), after their floor colours. The original glass-enclosed attendant's booth serves as a display case of Mies' and the building's history, with the former fuel dispensers marked by ventilation shafts. The centre uses geothermal energy.
See also
- Westmount Square
External links
- Montreal Architects Rescue Mies Van Der Rohe Gas Station from Obscurity, The Architizer Blog
- Conversion of Mies van der Rohe gas station on Nuns Island, e-architect.co.uk, Feb 21, 2012, updated March 6, 2014
References
- In Your Neighbourhood: The Mies Van Der Rohe Buildings City of Montreal, retrieved March 24, 2008^
- Les Perreaux. The Ritz of gas stations looks for a new life The Globe and Mail, January 27, 2009, retrieved January 28, 2009^
- Master architect designs unique station