Pictures Of Montreal’s St-Joseph Oratory Being Built In The 1920s

Photo cred - memorablemontreal

The Montreal Oratory is one of the most recognizable Montreal landmarks, attracting nearly 2 million visitors each year (unfortunately not as recognizable as the giant toilet we call the Olympic stadium) The project began in 1904 when Saint André Bessette built a small chapel on Mount Royal. Because the congregation grew so large they quickly ran out of room, so in 1917 a larger church was built that could fit up to 1000 people.

In 1924 they began construction of the basilica, the dome which is the 3rd largest of it's kind in the world was built by Father Paul Bellot who was also an architect, it was completed in 1939. Construction of the Oratory was completed in 1967.

When you see the oratory it's pretty difficult to imagine people in 1910 undertaking such a monumental project. Which prompted us to find out how exactly they did it. That's when we came across some historical photos from Memorable Montreal of the construction which show just how much work went into this Montreal icon.