Montrealers will be able to ice skate in Montreal’s Quartier des Spectacles as of next winter, Montreal Mayor Valérie Plante announced on Wednesday.
Plante also revealed the name of the new public space — Esplanade Tranquille — that will replace the vacant lot at the corner of Clark Street and Saint-Catherine Street.
Esplanade Tranquille will be landscaped with trees and benches in the warmer months, and will turn into a large ice skating rink in the winter.
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The $74 million project will be inaugurated in the summer of 2020, according to the city. The ice staking rink is set to open the following winter.
The esplanade is named after Montreal writer and bookseller Henri Tranquille, whose bookstore, open between 1937 and 1975, became popular among writers and artists during the Quiet Revolution.
“There used to be a library here, Librairie Tranquille, that was an epicenter, I would say, for the Automatistes movement,” Plante said.
Tranquille, who is remembered for his influence in Quebec’s literary world, has inspired many writers such as Anne Hébert, Claude Gauvreau and Yves Beauchemin.
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