Perspective on the city { no.2 }

Old McGill Street - work of the author, April 2009

This is the view south along McGill Street from Rue Le Moyne in the Old Quarter. I love the scale of the buildings in this area, and the liberal use of sandstone and similarly coloured brick on these late-Victorian era office buildings gives this particular street a vibrancy unique among the commercial streets in our city. Would make an excellent promenade, though in order to get cars out of the Old Port, access to the Métro would be ideal – consider that Rue de la Commune is about a twenty minute walk from the Orange line, and the distance between the Orange and Green lines can be as little as five. Part of what makes the Old Port so magical is the fact that there’s so much architectural and design variety over a relatively large area, it practically begs your attention. It would be great to free up some streets to allow many more people the chance to experience the streetscape in its totality. Moreover, of all the sectors of the city ideal to commence a ‘pedestrianification’ of the street system, the Old Port’s 19th and 18th century road planning was designed with people, not cars, in mind. May as well start here.

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