Robillard Block

The Robillard Block, once a prominent landmark in Montreal's Chinatown, was built in 1879 in the Neo-Renaissance style and transformed into a hotel in 1890. It gained fame as the first cinema in North America when it began showing films in 1896, utilizing a projector system developed by the Lumiere brothers. Despite its historical significance, the building was destroyed by fire in 2016 and was not rebuilt, leaving the site vacant until 2022 when a condominium development commenced.