Montreal - City Hall

(Local Name: Hôtel de Ville) The City Hall was designed by Perrault with an eye to the French Empire style of Napoleon III. Built between 1872 and 1878 it had to be restored following a fire in 1922.

Its hall of honor is resplendent with marble and bronze, and has a bust of Jacques Viger, Montréal's first mayor in 1833.

It was from the balcony of City Hall that, during his visit to Canada in the summer of 1967, the French President Charles de Gaulle uttered his clarion call "vive le Québec libre!" - long live free Québec - meeting with an enthusiastic response from the crowds on the Place Cartier below but considerably upsetting Canada's Federal Government.