Holt Renfrew is a
chain of high end department stores controlled
by The Selfridges Group under the chairmanship
of W. Galen Weston. It has branches across
Canada. The company can trace its origins
back to an Irish born merchant trading in furs
in Quebec City in 1837. It was in
celebration of 100 years of trading that Holt
Renfrew commissioned this building in Montreal
designed by Ross and Macdonald and built in
1937. A number of bas-relief carvings on
the buildings facade celebrate the company’s
links to the fur trade.
It is very much a building of its period
designed in the Streamline Moderne style of Art
Deco. Over the years there have been
changes. In 1946 James Kennedy added a
sympathetic extension on the west side of the
building.
A glass walled addition was
added to the roof to give the building a
seventh floor.
