Place Ville-Marie Montréal

Known for its rotating rooftop beacon that illuminates downtown at night, the 42-story Place Ville-Marie tower marked the beginning of Montréal’s Underground City five decades ago. Its cruciform shape was chosen to commemorate Maisonneuve’s planting of a great cross on Mont-Royal in 1642. Today it houses some 75 shops and restaurants, as well as 10,000 occupants.