Here's an idea of the lay of the land of the prison cells that still exist beneath city hall, as well as the tunnels that connect them to other parts of old Mtl. I wrote about it (for money) here.
This is the old prison, 1808-1838.
This was the traffic in front of the prison. Date unknown but quite possibly that very period.
Are you sure? This looks like a basic fire evacuation plan and except for the tunnel to the Hotel de Ville I don't see anything that looks liks prison cells.
ReplyDeleteHuh? I don't really get what you don't get. The yellow lines are the ways out. The other black contour lines represent actual walls down in the basement which were originally built as jail cells. There is even a "you are here" thing on it and that's right in the middle of the old prison.
ReplyDeleteWow. It'a that big? I guess the photo in the Gazette made me expect a few tiny cells.
ReplyDeleteWhen I was Leader of the Opposition at City Council, I had my office one floor above this basement. Used the tunnel from the City Hall garage many times, but never knew about the cells!
ReplyDeleteVery interesting Gazette article, Christian.
ReplyDeleteGood work. Never knew about the cells, even though I worked very close to them for more than 30 years.
Oops. Sorry about the name change, Kristian.
ReplyDeleteIn Ottawa, the old city jail is now the youth hostel (click on my link for picture), and it still has the gallows (the plywood-covered arch in the picture).
ReplyDeleteThe top floor has some cells preserved, and they are less than three feet wide by about 7 feet long.