The red scooters in this picture indicate the approximate site where one of Montreal's more curious landmarks stood for years: the big brandy-bottle kiosk.
Admittedly, the sight of an intoxicant -- although it was really just a newsstand -- between the stately halls of justice to the the west, and the seat of municipal authority to the east, could have bothered supporters of temperance -- in those days a hot ticket. So the French wine firm that owned the structure were ordered to remove it in the spring of 1912. Here's a bit of a close-up (above), and a view from the west (below).
And we wouldn't cheat ya out of the news item:
BRANDY BOTTLE LANDMARK WILL DISAPPEAR SOON
Montreal Herald, 27 April 1912
A famous landmark will disappear when the "brandy bottle kiosk" which for years has stood between the Court House and the City Hall on Notre Dame street east, is removed next Thursday.
City attorney Archambault informed the Board of Control yesterday that the Montreal agents for the French firm of wine merchants who owned the bottle kiosk had agreed to have the steel bottle removed by May 1.
A more temperate looking structure may be erected on the site at present occupied by the bottle, but the bottle has to go.
A famous landmark will disappear when the "brandy bottle kiosk" which for years has stood between the Court House and the City Hall on Notre Dame street east, is removed next Thursday.
City attorney Archambault informed the Board of Control yesterday that the Montreal agents for the French firm of wine merchants who owned the bottle kiosk had agreed to have the steel bottle removed by May 1.
A more temperate looking structure may be erected on the site at present occupied by the bottle, but the bottle has to go.
The city of Sudbury, Ont., I guess?
ReplyDeleteBut that would have been in 1951.
Where was the giant nickel for the other four decades?
Peabody