Like many industrial heritage ensembles, here and around the world, the New City Gas Company of Montreal complex was built in several stages by a number of different engineers, contractors, and architects. The New City Gas ensemble was built between 1859 and 1861 in accordance with the plans of John Ostell (1813-1862), a leading 19th-century Montreal architect. Ostell was also a board member and then president of the company, after being a shareholder of the Montreal Gas Light Company, founded in1836. Despite the loss of some parts of the building, largely to make way for the elevated tracks of the Canadian National Railway in the 1920’s, the New City Gas complex is largely intact. Its impressive roofs and stone masonry are a strong and evocative presence in the urban landscape, as seen from neighbouring Griffintown or from the train or highway.