Caserne Létourneux, Fire station and soccer training centre in Mercier–Hochelaga-Maisonneuve, Montreal, Canada
Caserne Létourneux is a 1915 fire station at 411 Letourneux Avenue, designed by Wilfrid L. Vandal and Marius Dufresne in a horizontal stone style inspired by Frank Lloyd Wright. A central tower once held wet fire hoses. Since 2015 the building and adjacent Parc Champêtre grounds have served as CF Montréal's training centre, with four soccer fields.
Built in 1914–1915 for the city of Maisonneuve on the site of its former town hall, the fire station was inaugurated on 21 October 1915 as Station No. 1. After Maisonneuve was annexed by Montreal in 1918 it became Station No. 44 and served until 1961. From 1961 to 1982 it housed SPCUM police Station No. 6; in 1970 a Notre-Dame Street widening project threatened it, but the building remains intact.
The building is named after Letourneux Avenue, where it stands at number 411. Its tower was used to dry fire hoses, a daily task of the fire service. From 2003 it housed the Théâtre Sans Fil, a company known for shows with giant marionettes, before the soccer club took over the site.
The training centre occupies the former fire station and the adjacent Parc Champêtre, with four pitches: two natural grass and two synthetic. The synthetic pitches are also open to local youth clubs. The building at 411 avenue Letourneux holds changing rooms, gyms, physiotherapy and massage rooms, a 60-seat auditorium and two study rooms for academy players.
In July 2015 Chelsea FC used the site as its base before a United States tour, and in July 2016 Real Madrid, then UEFA Champions League winners, prepared their season there. The tower's steel structure had corroded so badly that restoration was re-evaluated at $2.4 million in February 2016.
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