Picture hanging was never such a big deal in Montreal as it was at the now-demolished Van Horne Mansion.
This woman married William Van Horne's grandson and would be the last to live in the great downtown mansion demolished by David Azrieli. On the walls behind her were Zuburans, Rembrandts, Goyas, El Grecos, all part of an art collection worth well over $20 million in the 1970s. Not a single work was offered to a Canadian museum for either purchase or donation. She went for the cash.
Ah yes, the Van Horne mansion. "Big and bulgy, like myself" said Cornelius. Not built by him, mind you.
ReplyDeleteFast-forward to c. Sept. 1973 and the Quebec liberals said it was impossible to preserve it for cultural reasons because it was not part of Quebec's culture.
The weekend it came down I took a picture of some guy cramming large chunks of the copper roofing into the tiny trunk of his Datsun.
As for Mr. Azrieli's creation, yet another bland stack of featureless offices, it lasted intact almost a full thirty years until the whole thing was gutted to create a bland hotel or whatever it is.
Thank you, Bou-bou liberals for telling us about "culture".
Ditto for the Killam house across the street which came down a couple of weeks later. Nothing like yet another bland stack of bland offices to jar the eye next to the Atholstan house, miraculously saved by Alcan.
Careful about what to say about Azrielli!
ReplyDeleteHe won a defamation lawsuite against Le Devoir who published a letter to the editor bemoaning the “azriellization of downtown”…
Building was the Liquid Air (a France-based industrial gas company) headquarters.
ReplyDeleteAnd ditto for the Redpath mansion, home of my wacko many-times-great-aunt, demolished in another midnight Drapeau special.
ReplyDelete