Wednesday, January 20, 2010

Exterior Friezes @ Gare Centrale, Montreal

Gare Centrale, MontrealThe large murals by Charles Comfort inside Montreal's Gare Centrale are unmissable to all but the most urgent of travellers passing through the ticket hall.

Outside, however, there are a series of friezes executed by Fritz Brandtner that are too often overlooked.

They depict various aspects of transport through the ages including hot air balloons, planes, trains and a fantastic rendering of Icarus flying too close to the sun. As you can see from the final picture, some of the reliefs have been severely compromised and, no doubt, have been removed or hidden by subsequent extensions to the railway station.

Gare Centrale, Montreal

Gare Centrale, Montreal

Gare Centrale, Montreal

Gare Centrale, Montreal

Gare Centrale, Montreal

Gare Centrale, Montreal

Gare Centrale, Montreal

Gare Centrale, Montreal

Gare Centrale, Montreal

1 comment:

  1. Perhaps so.

    I'm glad they found a better solution in Toronto when the remodelled the former Postal Delivery Building into the Air Canada Centre for Ice Hockey & Basketball but relocating some friezes that would have been lost and putting them inside the entrance as an historical display leaving the remaining friezes on the exterior of the building. I put heaps of pictures on these posts.

    http://artdecobuildings.blogspot.com/2009/06/former-postal-delivery-building-toronto.html

    http://artdecobuildings.blogspot.com/2009/06/former-postal-delivery-building-toronto_22.html

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