Former Birks Building
276 Portage Avenue

This building is the result of successive efforts by two famous Montreal architects, George Browne and Percy Nobbs. Although built by Browne as the YMCA with a swimming pool fed by an artesian-well, 600 seat auditorium and dormitory rooms, it housed Birks Jewellers from about 1912 to 1987. Browne's Romanesque building, with its subdued ornamentation, rusticated stone, round-headed arches and Portage Avenue tower, was largely altered by Nobbs. Nobbs transformed the building into a lavish yet delicate Italianate design. The building was faced in granite, tyndall stone and bronze. Terra cotta, designed by Nobbs, was used for quoins, window frames and niches. The most spectacular terra cotta decoration is seen along the Portage Avenue frontage where terra cotta medallions (crafted to look like mosaics) depict the source of materials for jewellers. Above, a frieze (decorative horizontal bank) portrays a visit of the Queen of Sheba to King Solomon.