Laurier station - Large image

Ligne 2 orange LAURIER

Ligne 2 orange  Côte-Vertu

Left arrow Mont-Royal

Architect

Architects

Jean-Paul Pothier
New north headhouse (1999): Réal Paul1

Artist

Artist

None

Start of service

Start of service

October 14, 1966

Ligne 2 orange  Mont­morency

Rosemont Right arrow

Art & Architecture

Panorama of the trainroom from the Montmorency platform. The trainroom is built in tunnel and extends between the station's exits, located at either end. The platform walls are lined with granite panels.
The trainroom of this station, dug in tunnel, is unremarkably decorated in grey granite, with coloured tiles (red-orange at the south, crimson at the north) emphasizing the accesses at either end of the platforms.
View of the trainroom from the Montmorency platform, looking south. One of the platforms' groups of wooden oval seats, alternating in height. Above them are the station's celebrated 'ghosts,' discolorations left by passengers' heads over the decades.

The unusual seating is laid out in groups of five individual wooden oval-shaped seats, alternating between high and low. One well-known and somewhat eerie aspect of this station is the ghostly imprints in the granite wall cladding above the seats, made by the oil of countless passengers’ heads that over the years have rested against the walls while waiting for trains.

Panorama of the south accesses to the platforms, leading to the Saint-Joseph exit, with their curved double corridors. The curved double corridor leading from the Côte-Vertu platform to the Saint-Joseph exit.
One of the curved corridors from the platform toward the escalators to the Saint-Joseph access. View from inside the curved corridor connecting the Côte-Vertu platform to the escalators to the Saint-Joseph access. The split corridors here were designed to accommodate the one-way passenger flow system in the stations of the original network, and the platform gates that enforced it. However, this system was soon abandoned and the gates removed.

The main access, at the southern end of the station, has no transept; instead, separate stairways (including escalators) lead from the control zone to two entrances on either platform. This area is characterized by its unusual curved walls at the platform and mezzanine levels. These serve as funnels to make traffic flow more efficient.

At ticket hall level of the Saint-Joseph access, a curved hallway leads from the gateline toward the escalators to the platforms. The gateline of the south ticket hall is illuminated by the arrowhead-shaped light shaft at the tip of the Saint-Joseph headhouse. The interior of the light shaft is lined by the same obliquely set limestone as the outside of the headhouse. Beyond the gateline is the curve of the hallway leading to the stairwells to the platforms.

This access leads out to a slender arrowhead-shaped headhouse projecting out along the edge of a small square on Rue Saint-Joseph, and encircled by a bus loop. The shape of the headhouse recalls the oblique path of the historic Chemin des Carrières, which used to pass through the area; the exterior is clad in the local grey limestone that used to be transported along that road, set in striking diagonal strata. Similar masonry is used on parts of the north headhouse and also for accent walls inside the station. The shape and material of this headhouse make it an interesting forerunner of the postmodern practice of having a building’s design refer to the history and culture of its environment.

The Saint-Joseph headhouse seen from the adjacent park. At left, the point of the headhouse's arrowhead shape is formed by a light shaft, essentially free-standing but visually joined to the rest by roof beams. A single door provides access from this side into the headhouse. To the south (right), the roof projects along the bus loop to provide a covered waiting area. Like a ship's prow, the slender arrowhead shape of the Saint-Joseph headhouse comes to a point at its northern end. Oblique view of the northern tip of the Saint-Joseph headhouse and the west side of the building, facing the adjacent square.
The light shaft at the northern tip of the Saint-Joseph headhouse illuminates the ticket hall below. Roof beams connect it with the main mass of the headhouse. The side of the Saint-Joseph headhouse facing the adjacent park. Roof beams connect the headhouse itself with the light shaft, preserving the overall arrowhead shape while forming a breezeway of sorts between the two structures. A single doorway and its counterpart on the opposite side supplement the main entrances, which face the opposite way. The side of the Saint-Joseph headhouse, showing the Modernist-style masonry with obliquely arranged rows of grey limestone, a nod to the limestone once quarried in the area.

The main entrances are on the south side of the headhouse, but each side features an additional single door. The interior is well supplied with natural light by skylights that repeat the building’s arrowhead shape, while the tip of the headhouse integrates a light shaft illuminating the ticket hall below. The headhouse is edged with canopies to protect the passengers at the stops along the bus loop, including a long projection that runs along the southern part of the loop.

The Saint-Joseph headhouse, seen from across the bus loop. A projecting roof (right) and a covered colonnade extending from the building (left) provide sheltered waiting areas for the bus stops along the loop. The main entrance on the south side of the Saint-Joseph headhouse.
Panorama of the interior of the Saint-Joseph headhouse, looking north. At either side of the stairs, centre left, is a single door opening toward the north side of the station. Light strips emphasize the elongated triangular skylights above.
Interior of the Saint-Joseph headhouse, facing south toward the main exit. The area beyond the pillar in the centre is an addition from the early 1990s, but the ceiling is original, having originally covered an outdoor waiting area. The elongated triangular skylights of the Saint-Joseph headhouse. The broad stairwell leading down from the Saint-Joseph headhouse to the ticket hall. The red ventilation grille was added around 2016, similar to ones in the headhouse of the adjacent Rosemont station.

The unstaffed northern entrance on Avenue Laurier is a small building that was originally little more than a covered staircase with a row of turnstiles. It was somewhat expanded in 1999 by the addition of an atrium at the front end. This section is brightly sunlit through glass walls with an additional clerestory in the roof, supplementing the large windows on the side and back of the original headhouse.

South façade of the Avenue Laurier headhouse on the north end of the station: a relatively narrow, rectangular building with a somewhat wider atrium added to the front. Oblique view of the Avenue Laurier headhouse, with the atrium added in 1999. The atrium features mostly glazed walls and a projecting roof over the exits to provide some shelter to passengers.
Interior of the unstaffed north headhouse, facing east toward the gateline and the stairs to the platform. Glazed curtain walls are supplemented by a skylight overhead. Interior of the north headhouse beyond the gateline, facing east toward the stairs to the platforms. The stairwell toward the platform from the north entrance, lit by another glazed curtain wall at the rear of the headhouse.

This headhouse is connected by a fairly long stairwell to a balcony-style crossover overlooking the north end of the tracks, with stairs down to the platform ends. The wall above the crossover is clad in limestone similar to the south headhouse.

The north transept, overlooking the tunnel mouth and trainroom. At left, the back wall is in the same obliquely set limestone masonry as the headhouses. Stairs at the north end of the platform leading to the Avenue Laurier exit, decorated with crimson-coloured tiles.

Matt’s Rating

**

Accessibility

This station is not currently wheelchair-accessible. No plans to install elevators have yet been announced.

History & Trivia

Traffic

Traffic

3,724,158 entrances in 2023
22nd busiest station

Platform depth

Interstation distances

Interstation Distances

To Mont-Royal: 499.60 metres
To Rosemont: 746.10 metres

Origin of the Name

Avenue Laurier. Sir Wilfrid Laurier (1841-1919), the first French-Canadian prime minister, served as a member of the Quebec legislative assembly (1871-1894), until being elected to the House of Commons where he served until his death. Leader of the Liberal Party (1887-1919) and Prime Minister (1896-1911), he participated in all the critical political questions of the time, including free trade with the United States, the autonomy of Canada within the British Empire, the Manitoba schools question, the construction of a second transcontinental railway, the birth of the Royal Canadian Navy, and the creation of the provinces of Saskatchewan and Alberta and of the Yukon Territory. Widely recognized as one of the most important figures in Canadian history, he is depicted on the five-dollar bill. Avenue Saint-Louis was renamed Avenue Laurier in his honour in 1899.

Name proposed during planning phase: Saint-Joseph.2

Sir Wilfrid Laurier.

Sir Wilfrid Laurier
(Source3)

Trivia

  • The architect originally proposed that the Saint-Joseph exit be built as an open-air entrance in the park, but the city’s executive committee rejected this idea.4
  • The north headhouse was the network’s first unstaffed station entrance. As now, there was no ticket booth, and it was equipped with automatic turnstiles that only accepted full-fare tickets and bus transfers. As a result, it primarily served as an exit.5
  • The never-completed program of works of art on historical subjects proposed by the metro’s first art director, Robert LaPalme, anticipated that this station would feature an artwork “in homage to the Charon brothers, founders of Montreal’s first hospital.”6
Map of the area around the Saint-Joseph headhouse prior to the construction of the station, showing Chemin des Carrières, which lent its shape to the headhouse.

Map of the area around the Saint-Joseph headhouse prior to the construction of the station, showing Chemin des Carrières, which lent its shape to the headhouse
(Source7)

Construction on the north end of the trainroom in October 1965.

Construction on the north end of the trainroom in October 1965.
(Source8)

Construction on the south headhouse in October 1965.

Construction on the south headhouse in October 1965.
(Source9)

Actress Juliette Béliveau, centre front, was chosen to be the first passenger at Laurier station on the metro's inauguration day, October 14, 1966.

Actress Juliette Béliveau, centre front, was chosen to be the first passenger at Laurier station on the metro’s inauguration day, October 14, 1966.
(Source10)

Aerial view of the Saint-Joseph headhouse in the late 1970s.

Aerial view of the Saint-Joseph headhouse in the late 1970s
(Source11)

The Avenue Laurier headhouse before its extension in 1999.

The Avenue Laurier headhouse before its extension in 1999
(Source11)

  • The interior of the Saint-Joseph headhouse was originally noticeably smaller than it is today; the column presently located inside the building was originally on the south façade. The access was expanded southward in the early 1990s, engulfing space that was originally part of a covered open-air waiting area. This project won an honourable mention for architecture from the Sauvons Montréal heritage organization in 1993.12
  • The waiting area on the south side of the Saint-Joseph access originally featured striking metal light fixtures that were unfortunately removed sometime between 2003 and 2007.
View up the stairs to the Saint-Joseph headhouse showing the original extent of the interior. The column at left between the two rows of doors is now located inside the headhouse.

View up the stairs to the Saint-Joseph headhouse showing the original extent of the interior. The column at left between the two rows of doors is now located inside the headhouse.
(Source13)

Another view up the stairs to the Saint-Joseph headhouse, showing the shallow interior.

Another view up the stairs to the Saint-Joseph headhouse, showing the shallow interior.
(Source14)

The original entrance doors to the Saint-Joseph headhouse.

The original entrance doors to the Saint-Joseph headhouse
(Source15)

A colonnade featuring impressive light fixtures under the projecting roof of the Saint-Joseph headhouse, seen from the headhouse exit. Today, the interior extends as far as the column seen here in the foreground.A colonnade featuring impressive light fixtures under the projecting roof of the Saint-Joseph headhouse, seen from the southeast across Rue Gilford.A colonnade featuring impressive light fixtures under the projecting roof of the Saint-Joseph headhouse, seen from the southwest, before the projecting awning was extended along Rue Gilford over the bus stops there.

A colonnade featuring impressive light fixtures under the projecting roof of the Saint-Joseph headhouse. Today, the interior extends as far as the column seen in the foreground in the first image.
(Source16, 17, 18)

Interpretive plaques located on the west side of the Saint-Joseph headhouse
First of two interpretive plaques located on the west side of the Saint-Joseph headhouse

Text of the interpretive plaques located on the west side of the Saint-Joseph headhouse:

Chemin des Carrières

Since the metro runs under Rue Berri, we can say in a way that it also, in its turn, follows Chemin des Carrières.

In 1710, when Jean-Louis Plessy dit Bélair purchased land in the middle of the countryside to set up his leather tanning business, he could not have imagined that he was laying the foundations of the future Plateau-Mont-Royal. Located at what is today the corner of Avenue du Mont-Royal and Avenue Henri-Julien, this flourishing small business saw its many employees settle nearby, on Rue Robin, which would later become Avenue Henri-Julien. This little hamlet was known as village de la tannerie des Bélair, and formed the starting point of a path that would shape the future district: Chemin des Carrières.

This road was known for many years as Chemin de la Tannerie. It was the late 18th-century discovery of limestone deposits nearby, and the subsequent opening of large quarries, that gave it its new name Chemin des Carrières [Quarries Road]. This new industry, which would supply the stone for numerous buildings in Old Montreal, required the road to be extended north, as all the quarries had to be served in order for the stone to be transported toward the city. It was this winding path around the excavations that gave it its distinctive shape. The first section corresponds to today’s Rue Gilford, and brings us here, at the corner of Boulevard Saint-Joseph, to the south headhouse of Laurier metro station.

Chemin des Carrières continued north along present-day Rue Berri. At Rue Laurier, adjacent to the north headhouse of Laurier station, we find Place du Coteau-Saint-Louis, at the heart of the former village of the same name, inhabited by the quarry workers who were also known as Pieds-Noirs [black feet]. With the rapid development of the industry, a whole village sprang up between Boulevard Saint-Joseph and Rue Saint-Grégoire to house the workers who settled around the portion of the road that would later become Rue Berri. Several buildings from this period still exist in the area. At Rue Saint-Grégoire, the road veered east and continued, still under the name Chemin des Carrières, along the former Chemin de la Petite Côte de la Visitation.

Second of two interpretive plaques located on the west side of the Saint-Joseph headhouse

The south headhouse of Laurier station

In the late 19th century, Montreal’s new street grid came to the area, but the course of the old road was still respected. As a result, a small triangular square was created at this location and would last several decades.

The designer of Laurier station, architect Jean-Paul Pothier, drew inspiration from the history of the area and the little square in creating the architecture we see today. The grey limestone that was transported for years along the road past the station site is showcased as the cladding of the station’s exterior walls. The architect placed it in oblique layers, marking his modernist style. The building’s massing, for its part, adopts the triangular shape of the little square that occupied the urban space of Chemin des Carrières.

Laurier
Architect: Jean-Paul Pothier
Inauguration: October 14, 1966

1. This excerpt from the 1907 atlas of A.R. Pinsonneault presents the area surrounding Laurier station. We can see the small square at the crossroads, as well as Boulevard Saint-Joseph, which ended at Chemin des Carrières at that time.

2. These small twinned houses, from the mid-19th century, housed quarry workers in the village of Coteau-Saint-Louis. They were located on Chemin des Carrières near today’s Rue Saint-Grégoire.

3. This segment of Chemin des Carrières, north of Rue Boucher, still exists, although the old wooden two-family house has been lost. This building represents the typical architecture of Coteau-Saint-Louis.

Société d’histoire du Plateau-Mont-Royal · STM

General Information

Platform diagram

Most convenient metro cars to use when travelling to this station

Platform diagram - Laurier station

Station surroundings

Laurier (Saint-Joseph exit) - Station surroundings
Laurier (Laurier exit) - Station surroundings

Station address

Borough of Le Plateau-Mont-Royal

A Saint-Joseph entrance: 495 Rue Gilford, at Rue Berri
B Laurier entrance: 475 Avenue Laurier Est, at Rue Berri (unstaffed)

OpenStreetMap link
Google Maps link

STM neighbourhood map (PDF)

Nearby attractions

Official website

Service information, opening hours, frequency, bus routes

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Most recent update: 2026-08-15

References
  1. Martins-Manteiga, John. (2011). Métro: Design in Motion/Le design en mouvement. Montreal: Dominion Modern. P. 324. ↩
  2. Clairoux, Benoît. (2001). Le métro de Montréal: 35 ans déjà. Montreal: Hurtubise HMH. P. 110. ↩
  3. William James Topley. The Honourable Sir Wilfrid Laurier, Photo C. 1906. Photograph. British Library, London, no. HS85/10/16873. Source: Wikimedia Commons. ↩
  4. Clairoux, Benoît. (2002, November 6.) “Les secrets des stations de métro.” En Commun, vol. 12, no. 18, p. 3. ↩
  5. “Les écoliers doivent se rendre au métro par la rue Gilford.” (1966, December 28). Le Guide Mont-Royal. Source: Archives de la Ville de Montréal, CA M001 VM166-1-1-D5277, p. 3. ↩
  6. "Une fois décoré, le métro sera un livre d'images sur Montréal." (1968, February 25). Le Petit Journal, p. 7. Source: Bibliothèque et Archives nationales du Québec. ↩
  7. Image source: Choquette, J.E., Durand, R. Plans d’utilisation du sol de la ville de Montréal à l’échelle 1:600. Plate 55-60. Montreal: Service d’urbanisme de la ville de Montréal. Bibliothèque et Archives nationales du Québec, 0003612099.  ↩
  8. Photograph by Paul-Henri Talbot, La Presse, October 4, 1965. Fonds La Presse. Bibliothèque et Archives nationales du Québec, 06M,P833,S5,D1965-0134, no. 5. ↩
  9. Photograph by Paul-Henri Talbot, La Presse, October 4, 1965. Fonds La Presse. Bibliothèque et Archives nationales du Québec, 06M,P833,S5,D1965-0134, no. 4. ↩
  10. Source: Archives de la Ville de Montréal, VM94-M220-006. Used under the Creative Commons BY-NC-SA 2.5 CA License. See also: “Le premier billet de la station Laurier, 1966 ” (December 16, 2011). Archives de Montréal. ↩
  11. © STM archives. ↩ ↩
  12. Société de transport de la Communauté urbaine de Montréal. (1994). Rapport annuel 1993: Gagner le pari. Montreal: author. P. 25. ↩
  13. Source: Archives de la Ville de Montréal, VM94-M243-025. Used under the Creative Commons BY-NC-SA 2.5 CA License. ↩
  14. Source: Archives de la Ville de Montréal, VM94-M266-064. Used under the Creative Commons BY-NC-SA 2.5 CA License. ↩
  15. Source: Archives de la Ville de Montréal, VM94-M243-033. Used under the Creative Commons BY-NC-SA 2.5 CA License. ↩
  16. Source: Archives de la Ville de Montréal, VM94-M243-035. Used under the Creative Commons BY-NC-SA 2.5 CA License. ↩
  17. Source: Archives de la Ville de Montréal, VM097-Y-02-D005A-016-02. Used under the Creative Commons BY-NC-SA 2.5 CA License. ↩
  18. Source: Claude Gosselin, Gabor Szilasi. (1966) Stations de métro à Montréal. Fonds Ministère de la Culture et des Communications – Archives nationales à Montréal. Image no. 1. Bibliothèque et Archives nationales du Québec, E6,S7,SS1,D662058-662074. Used under the Creative Commons BY-NC-ND 4.0 License. ↩