Place Ville Marie

🏙️ What Is Place Ville Marie (PVM)? A landmark cross-shaped office tower and complex, designed by I.M. Pei and Henry N. Cobb, completed in 1962. Its main tower stands 188 m tall (47 floors), then the tallest in the Commonwealth . Comprises five office towers, a multi-level shopping mall (Galerie PVM), food court under a glass pavilion, and an outdoor Esplanade PVM plaza . Served as the genesis of Montréal’s Underground City, now a 33 km network of pedestrian tunnels connecting malls, metro, bus and train stations . 🔄 The Circle: Esplanade PVM & "The Ring" 🎨 Esplanade PVM An open-air plaza integrated with green terraces, public seating, and venues for cultural events . Underwent a recent revamp with a glass pavilion, a staircase linking up McGill College Avenue, and a new beer garden “Le Cathcart” under its canopy . ✨ L’Anneau (“The Ring”) A 30 m-diameter stainless steel sculpture suspended above the Esplanade since June 2022, designed by Claude Cormier + Associés . Acts as a symbolic gateway framing views of McGill College Avenue and Mount Royal’s slope . Illuminated with custom lighting (gobos and color filters) at night, shifting between warm whites, amber, pink, and blue to blend with the PVM beacon and city skyline . Visible in aerial shots and pedestrian views—an urban landmark and photo magnet . 🛠️ Fascinating Facts Built above Canadian National railway tracks in a 15 m trench, without obstructing rail traffic . Features 32 elevators, uses nearly 50,000 tonnes of steel and 1 million bolts . Its rooftop rotating beacon sends light visible up to 58 km, symbolizing Montréal’s skyline since 1962 . Esplanade enhancements are part of the $200 M revitalization by Ivanhoé Cambridge to reinforce its role as a vibrant public hub . 🚶 Visiting Tips Location: At the corner of McGill College Avenue and Cathcart, bordered by René-Lévesque and Mansfield . Access: Served by McGill and Bonaventure metro stations, and directly connected to Central Station by tunnel . Best Time: Daytime for urban architecture shots; evening/dusk for The Ring’s lighting and skyline-illuminated effects. On-site amenities: Food court under the glass pavilion, beer garden, indoor boutiques, EV charging and both paid/free parking . 🎯 Why It Matters Place Ville Marie is a cornerstone of Montréal’s modernist architecture and downtown identity, uniting commerce, transit, culture, and public space . “The Ring” serves as a visual gateway, strengthening the connection between city core, Mount Royal, and the pedestrian realm . The revitalized Esplanade fosters community and cultural experiences, reflecting the ongoing evolution of Montréal’s vibrant urban centre .

A really pleasant plaza with surrounding restaurants. The Cathcart food court has stairs leading down to it. separates Rene Levesque blvd on one side of the ring and Saint-Catherine St on the other. It would be nice to come back when they have an event there.

This area is surrounded by nice restaurants and coffee shops. Several companies are located here, and there is also a nice food court and bar

It's a lot more beautiful then it used to be. They did a good job. But makes you wonder why did they need a HUGE circle of lights, place des arts closed but barely any cars fit downtown, no parking and the sewers still get flood... But that million dollar useless light was a GREAT idea

Nice view, loved the overall atmosphere of the place. Wasn't too crowded

Went for a quick walk while waiting for my aunt to arrive at the train station. Le Cercle Polaire is such an amazing art installation with a great message about climate change. Art with a purpose. Beautiful at night. Perfect for taking pictures.

Nice mall that makes up a critical portion of the Underground City. Includes the Cathcart food court, a nice outdoor plaza, and tons of shopping/dining options!

I stumbled across this place, it had been underground but it is very visible. The place appeared to be very relaxed with a lot of places to order food, drinks and alcoholic drinks. This place does contain WiFi and some general shops. This place seemed to be for the young people. Very clean and well respected staff just be careful as they speak french and English. This place also has a walk through to a railway station.

Place Ville Marie (PVM for short) is a large office and shopping complex skyscraper in Downtown Montreal, comprising four office buildings and an underground shopping plaza. I have visited this Place many times, this last time to see an acrobatic show put together by the Circus festival of 2023. The place at street level has many outdoor restaurants, gardens, benches and places to sit and relax. This plaza serves as the main and official headquarters for Royal Bank of Canada, Canada's Largest Bank. It is a 617 ft, 47-stories, cruciform office tower. The complex is a nexus for Montreal's Underground City, the world's busiest, with indoor access to over 1,600 businesses, numerous subway stations, a suburban transportation terminal, and tunnels extending throughout downtown. A counter-clockwise rotating beacon on the rooftop lights up at night, illuminating the surrounding sky with up to four white horizontal beams that can be seen as far as 31 mi away.

I love Place Ville Marie for some last minute shopping before my VIA Train leaves, lol. Place Ville Marie is connected to Gare Centrale so if you get to the train station early and you need to wait around before you can board your train, why not go shopping at PVM? Place Ville Marie reminds me a lot of those underground complexes in downtown Toronto, like The Toronto-Dominion Centre or The Richmond-Adelaide Complex, where the target demographic is workers in nearby office buildings. The stores sell "office appropriate" clothes and many stores are not open on the weekend, this is particularly true of the food court. The stores there include Browns Shoes, Clarks, Laura, Melanie Lyne, RW & Co, Tristan, and stores of that ilk. There's also a Pharmaprix and a Bentley's (great if you need to get new luggage or luggage accessories for your travels). The food court is acceptable with places like Tiki Ming, Subway, Cafe Van Houtte, Starbucks, Cultures, Grillades Torino, etc. Mostly chains. They do have a Dunkin' Donuts which is not all that common anymore. There is free Wi-Fi. It's pretty clean and I always see security guards walking around (I guess because it's close to the train station).

Even though it's quite confusing at the moment with all the construction, it's still a really great area for food and shopping. It's also part of the underground tunnel so easily accessible.

I've been through Place Ville Marie a few times. It is not only a small shopping center with the usual food court but also houses offices. I generally wouldn't buy anything in the stores located there since I consider them on the higher end boutique-style stores. Only places that I might use within Place Ville Marie would be the Rogers, Fido, or Videotron store located there (but these stores are located in other malls connected to the underground city). There is a Pharmaprix located here but they don't seem to have all the items at other Pharmaprix stores (ex: at work for a pizza party, I wanted to bring a few large bottles of soft drink and went to this Pharmaprix store but they don't sell them). I generally make my way to Place Ville Marie either when I want to grab a bite to eat or on my way through the underground city to get to Central Station or Bonaventure metro or to get to one of the buildings connected to McGill metro. Within Place Ville Marie's food court, I've only tried their McDonalds, Tiki Ming, Subway, and Caravelle food court style restaurants. There is free WiFi within the food court area and is accessible in certain areas outside of the food court. Place Ville Marie is a very nice, clean, and well maintained shopping center. There is underground parking which I find somewhat cramped. If parking right in between the yellow lines, you still have to be careful when opening your car doors as it is cramped. The good thing about the parking is that it is free Thursday evenings, Friday evenings and "all day" on the weekend provided that you sign up for their free VIP PVM card and you spend more than $20 before taxes on that particular day after the time that you parked (meaning you can't spend $25 before 5:00pm, park after 5pm, and use that receipt for the free parking). Evenings for Thursday and Friday start at 5pm. You can get more information from PVM's website.

Smaller ish shopping mall just off of St Catherine that I would have no clue that it existed if it wasn't pointed out to this suburbanite. There is a small but decent shop selection plus a smaller food court. I'll share a dandy little secret with you all. If you join their VIPVM card (free) and spend $20 (before taxes) they will give you free parking on evenings and weekends. It's a great way to head downtown for dinner near St Catherine's E. If you can't figure out anything to buy head to Pharmaprix buy a couple of rolls of toilet paper and voila you've saved $15 on a night of parking and had a great night out downtown.

Small selection of stores - clothing, tea shop, etc with a large foodcourt with plenty of options and also many, many seats and tables. During weekday lunch hours, it can get quite crowded, but there are definitely always empty tables/chairs. This mall connects to the underground city and you can directly go to Gare Centrale for VIA trains out of the city. While it is pretty busy during the weekdays, it is almost completely empty on weekends and almost half the stores are closed throughout the weekend, so keep that in mind if you plan to visit then.

In my quest to exercise during the freezing weather, i'll go on long walks in the underground city.This part of the walk is always interesting. I start off at the basement at the bay's and can make it an almost loop to Metro Place des arts. It can be done in roughly an hour. I'm more into the food than the boutiques, we have one of our last Dunkin Donuts, a Mcdonalds, smoked meat shop, a couple of sushi joints and some middle eastern grub. There's a few coffee shops in the food court as well and the seats are pretty comfortable. I normally have a very good sense of direction, but not here for some reason, can never get where I want to go because all the exits and stores look alike to me. It can get very rushed at around 5pm, but it's nice and quiet afterwards.