Le Palais De Justice De Montréal, Montreal, Quebec

May 4, 2005

The Palais de Justice is a contemporary 22-story black-lass building constructed in 1971. However, parts of the original courthouse, built in 1856 by the British, still remain, blending the modern building technology with the country’s history.
The courthouse houses the provincial, superior, appeal and criminal courts in Québec’s largest city. Visitors can observe court proceedings in session, and the building also houses the city's legal archives and library.
Large format tiles were chosen for the recently completed project to give the courthouse a refreshing look, while still respecting the original design, according to Jean St. Onge, president of Polycor Tiles and Slabs. For the new renovation, large format Caledonia Pink granite tiles were used as flooring in the corridors of the building.
Polycor’s Clermont Perron said that the reason the large-format tiles were chosen in the first place was that judges and other courthouse officials were adamant about keeping the noise level down. Large-format tile is able to absorb the sound more easily than smaller sizes.
Karen Sauder of Lemay et Associés, the Montréal architectural firm overseeing the project, originally specified 16" x 32" ceramic tile at 3/8” thickness, a size not commonly seen in granite tile.
“We needed a granite tile as big as this ceramic tile at the same 3/8" thickness to respect the pattern designed at approximately the same price,” said Yvan Poulin, the Montreal representative for Polycor.. “Caledonia is the best granite to use for producing big-size tiles with thin thickness, because it won't warp as the other granites can.”
Polycor was able to produce a large format size of 18” x 32” at 3/8” thickness.
“This was the first time we tried to produce a tile 3/8" thick larger than 16" x 16" or 12” x 24” in a great quantity at a price to compete against ceramic,” said Poulin. “Polycor met this challenge and opened the doors for the possibilities of offering an alternate to the big ceramic tiles at the same price on the big-size projects.”
Polycor’s Perron said that the stone, in that large format, had many cost advantages over the ceramic tile. First, he said, was the fact that the stone at that size had less bowing than the ceramic. At that size, the ceramic tile is too fragile, and would need to be backed and set in thin-set – two processes that would increase costs.
Secondly, the rounded edges of the ceramic tile would mean wider joints, something that was not desired. Stone, because of its flat edges, allows for minimal joint space. The ceramic tile would have to be re-cut in order to have the desired flat edges, adding another factor in raising the cost.
In the end, after accounting for all factors, the ceramic tile was more-expensive than the granite, and Polycor’s granite was specified.
The Caledonia used for the project is also used for standard size tiles, slabs, cut-to-size and split curbs, and the color is usually uniform without imperfections.
“It has been quarried for more than 100 years and there is a very good supply,” said Poulin. “This means Caledonia can be specified for a project of any size.”
A honed finish was used to on all of the tiles, because of the heavy traffic in the courthouse. Pose Design of Canada installed the stone.
“The outcome was outstanding!” said St. Onge. “It shows great design from the architect with unmatchable control of fabrication techniques in a high-quality stone.”
“When I visited the site, I was very proud of the work we were able to contribute to,” said Poulin. “The color was uniform on all of the different floors.
“The biggest sign of the success of the project was that perhaps the toughest critics – the courthouse employees – liked the new floor.”