Montréal

Interior of a contemporary library. It is a symmetrical room surrounded by a mezzanine and with large work tables in the middle. A person is standing at the back.

Bibliothèque du Centre Canadien d’Architecture, Montréal

Combining modern elements with a respect for classical proportions, the design of the Canadian Centre for Architecture reflects its mission as an universal archive of the art.
Interior of a library in a converted Neoclassical chapel. It is a pastel-coloured barrel-vaulted hall filled with small cubicles. An organ fills a gallery at the end of the room. Cross-shaped chandeliers hang from the ceiling.

Dawson College Library, Montréal

Among the first examples of Beaux-Arts architecture in Canada, the former Notre-Dame Congregation chapel in Montréal is now the Dawson college library.
Interior of a contemporary library. It is a whitewashed rectangular room with a barrel-vault ceiling. The room is occupied by low bookshelves and long tables, where a few students are working. Large houseplants are set on the shelves. Paper cranes hang from cables strung across the room.

Marianopolis College Library, Montréal

This room inside the English-language Marianopolis college in Montréal again welcomes its library after serving as a chapel for a religious congregation.
Interior of a large neoclassical chapel. The main part of the room is used as a meeting space, with movable chairs, while the front is closed off by a glass wall and contains a library.

Bibliothèque de la Compagnie de Jésus, Montréal

Long hidden behind drab ceiling tiles, the unveiling of the former chapel at Collège Jean-de-Brébeuf in Montréal in 2004 also marked the renaissance of one of the oldest libraries on the continent.
Interior of the Henri-Bourassa library. A service desk is in the front. The left wall is whitewashed brick with curved openings. A row of shelves topped by a mezzanine is at the right.

Bibliothèque Henri-Bourassa, Montréal

An unusual example of adaptive reuse, the Henri-Bourassa library in North Montreal occupies a former Hydro-Québec substation.