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Nuns' Island gas station

The filling station, in 2007.
The filling station, closed, in April 2010.

The Nuns' Island gas station (French: Station-service de l'Île-des-Sœurs) is a modernist-style building on Nuns' Island in Montreal, Quebec. It was built as a filling station in 1969 from a project of Ludwig Mies van der Rohe. Closed for several years, it was later converted to a community centre.[1][2]

It was the first gas station on the Island of Montreal commissioned by Imperial Oil.[3] It was also one of four buildings that Mies designed on Nuns' Island.[4]

Community centre

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"La Station" lighting at night

When the filling station closed in 2008,[5] the borough of Verdun transformed the building into a community arts centre, La Station.[4][6] Eric Gauthier was the lead architect on the project, which saw the two glass pavilions rebuilt to their original 3,000- and 1,000-square-foot (93 m2) sizes.[7] The community centre opened in February 2012.[8]

La Station is a community centre for teens and people over 50 years of age. The two main buildings are called the salle blanche (English: white room) and salle noire (English: black room), after their floor colours. The original glass-enclosed attendant's booth serves as a display case of Mies' and the building's history, with the former fuel dispensers marked by ventilation shafts. The centre uses geothermal energy.[9]

See also

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References

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  1. ^ "In Your Neighbourhood: The Mies Van Der Rohe Buildings". City of Montreal. Retrieved 24 March 2008.
  2. ^ Perreaux, Les (27 January 2009). "The Ritz of gas stations looks for a new life". The Globe and Mail. Retrieved 28 January 2009.
  3. ^ "Master architect designs unique station". Montreal Gazette. 20 September 1968. p. 90. Retrieved 26 December 2009.
  4. ^ a b "How a Mies van der Rohe Gas Station Became a Community Center". Bloomberg.com. 14 March 2019. Retrieved 22 August 2025.
  5. ^ "Conversion of Mies van der Rohe Gas Station / FABG". ArchDaily. 7 March 2012. Retrieved 22 August 2025.
  6. ^ Lejtenyi, Patrick. "Nuns saves Mies". Montreal Mirror. Communications Gratte-Ciel Ltée. Archived from the original on 6 June 2011.
  7. ^ Leblanc, Dave (8 July 2011). "Mies's Montreal gas station gets new lease on life". The Globe and Mail. Retrieved 8 July 2011.
  8. ^ "10 ans pour La Station, le centre communautaire intergénérationnel de l'Île-des-Soeurs" [10 years for La Station, the intergenerational community center on Nuns' Island]. Nouvelles d'Ici (in French). 27 June 2022. Retrieved 22 August 2025.
  9. ^ Woolfrey, John (24 February 2012). "La Station: The Jewel in the Nuns' Island Crown". Openfile Montreal. Archived from the original on 20 January 2013.
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45°27′36″N 73°32′41″W / 45.4601°N 73.5446°W / 45.4601; -73.5446