History

Enamelled house number plates, now a distinctive feature of Montréal’s built environment, first appeared in the early 20th century, as the city’s boundaries rapidly expanded following the annexation of numerous surrounding municipalities. Faced with the problem of identical street names across different areas,  and a numbering system specific to each former village, the city renamed certain streets and adopted a unified and streamlined numbering scheme. In 1905, Rue Saint-Laurent became a ‘boulevard’, dividing Montreal into two sides, east and west, and serving as the ‘zero’ point for building numbers, which increased on either side. From 1924 onwards, the addresses of streets running north-south were in turn systematized, starting from the river and moving northwards. The renumbering of buildings continued until 1931.

Archives de la Ville de Montréal. COTE.

In the wake of this standardisation, the city sought to streamline signage, covering both street names and house numbers (1). It therefore issued its first call for tenders in The Daily Witness on February 9th, 1907, for the production of 5,000 address plates and 2,000 street name plates. The contract was awarded to Denis Advertising Signs Limited, which offered to supply address plates at 8.5¢ each. The company’s factory – which would go on to produce many of the iconic signs that characterise the Montreal skyline, including the Archambault sign on the corner of Berri and Sainte-Catherine streets – was then located at 35 Vallée Street (now the Complexe Desjardins).

CITY CLERK’S OFFICE. (1907, 9 février). « Road Dept. Sealed Tenders ». The Daily Witness.

However, the majority of the address plates found throughout Montréal were produced following a call for tenders published in La Presse on March 10th, 1908, which was awarded to Thomas Davidson Manufacturing Company Limited, the sole bidder. In its tender, the company highlighted the quality and durability of its products – which had already been in use by the city for around ten years and were still in good condition – as well as by numerous other municipalities, such as Hamilton, Toronto, Delorimier and Westmount. The company then offered enamelled iron address plates at 20.5¢ each. The following year the price dropped to 20¢ each. Several contracts for the supply of street name and address plates were awarded to the company in the years that followed. The enamelled plates were produced in the Petite-Bourgogne district Montréal , with the company’s industrial complex situated between Dominion, Albert, Vinet and Delisle streets. In 1927, the Thomas Davidson Manufacturing Company Limited became General Steel Ware following its merger with four other companies.

The council’s calls for tenders for the supply of address plates did not specifically mention materials, dimensions, colours or typeface. Although interested companies may have obtained certain requirements directly from the council, the suppliers themselves may have defined the characteristics of the plates they proposed. It was, however, a requirement that samples be enclosed with the tenders. The Thomas Davidson Manufacturing Company Limited was, in fact, responsible for the distinctive embossed design of Montréal’s address plates, and the company highlighted this unique feature of its product in its 1909 tender. This embossed design was intended to allow air to circulate between the plate and the mounting surface, thereby extending its lifespan. The company also supplied two rubber washers per plate, to allow for the thermal expansion of the metal during installation.

ALBUM MASSICOTTE. (1905) Coins Delisle/Dominion/Albert/Vinet.

Archives de la Ville de Montréal. COTE.

In 1944, the plates were sold by the city at a cost of 30¢, including installation by municipal staff. However, at least until 1919, the plates were supplied by the city as part of renumbering campaigns carried out sector by sector. In 1979, the city held a stock of 15,000 plates, which it sold at a cost of $10 each to interested property owners, by which time it was no longer compulsory to have a standardised plate. The plates in stock, however, had to be numbered as orders came in, a task that could not have been carried out at the General Steel Ware complex at 2355 Delisle Street, which was demolished in the late 1960s.

Characterised by its typeface, white numerals and blue background, the Montréal enamelled address plate features a few variations, possibly depending on the plot. While the blue is sometimes lighter or darker, the background green or the typeface slightly varied, the most notable distinction remains the black address on a white background, distributed from the mid-1940s onwards.

As a testament to the area’s development – first in villages and towns, then through the various annexations to the City of Montréal throughout the 20th century – enamelled address plaques are a distinctive feature of the City of Montréal’s unique numbering scheme. They are therefore found more frequently in neighbourhoods that underwent significant development in the first half of the 20th century, as well as in areas where addresses were altered by the standardised numbering scheme. These plaques, in white on blue or black on white, can also provide an indication of when the building was constructed.

Montreal’s enamelled address plaques also bear witness to a manufacturing technique that is now very rare in Quebec, and to the craft of the enameller. Few artisans are now able to produce them, and in recent years it has been necessary to turn to an enamelling workshop in Normandy to obtain an enamelled address plaque similar to those that characterise Montréal  ’s built environment. The local production of enamelled plaques in accordance with the rules of the art of enamelling highlights a characteristic feature of Montréal’s built environment—largely defined by the meticulous work of the craftsmen and women who contributed to its creation—as well as a manufacturing technique that left its mark on the 20th century.