Skip to main content

Not Your Typical Concert Venue!

When The New Penelope opened, on Sherbrooke Street, in 1967, no one had seen anything like it! Its design was definitely unusual for its time.

A black and white photo from 1966 of the artist François Dallegret sitting with his legs up sideways on a bench at his large drawing table, working on designs.

Dallegret at his drawing board for Expo 67, 1967

A new designer in town

In 1963, a young French artist, named François Dallegret, left Paris for America. After living for a time at the Chelsea Hotel, in New York City, he moved to Montreal. His first architectural project was designing Le Drug, a drugstore/ discotheques/ restaurant/ gallery on de la Montagne Street, in downtown Montreal, in 1965. Le Drug as well as his avant-garde work for Expo 67 and other projects gained him a reputation as a highly original, eccentric artist and designer. Dallegret’s extraordinary imagination helped him quickly establish himself in Montreal’s cultural and social scenes.

Listen to the audio clip with transcript: “Super Party: Dallegret’s alternative Expo 67 opening”.

From Le Drug to The New Penelope

A black and white photograph of a man with glasses lying on a molded curved white alcove with one arm hanging down. Molded white tables can be seen in the foreground. A white neon light coming from a tube-like form is hanging from the ceiling into the centre of the image.

Dallegret lying in Le Drug, the coffeehouse-restaurant-discotheque section, 1965

Gary Eisenkraft was among the hip crowd that frequented Le Drug at the time, and was intrigued by the futuristic decor. So, in December 1966, he hired Dallegret to design the interior of the new New Penelope on Sherbrooke Street.

Listen to the audio clip with transcript: “Dallegret’s design for Le Drug”.

A two-page typewritten document. A logo at the top of the first page shows a vintage car from the early 20th century, while a graphic featuring concentric circles is at the top of the second typewritten page.

Dallegret’s contract and invoice for the design of The New Penelope, 1967

 

The work schedule and budget for the project were tight and restrictive. Fortunately, Dallegret came up with a minimalist, flexible solution that was adaptable. He designed the space around metal scaffolding with lighting fixtures, and wooden plank seating.

A high-contrast black and white wide-angle photograph of the completely empty interior of The New Penelope, showing rows of benches and bright lighting fixtures hanging from scaffolding overhead.

Interior of the new New Penelope on Sherbrooke Street, 1967

As the stage and seats were moveable, the layout of the room could change to suit each band and concert. When the bright lights came on between performances, the audience would see tangled electronics. With its unapologetic industrial aesthetic, Dallegret reinvented the coffeehouse of the time.

I’m very much into the temporary side, the fast side, the side of things that appear, disappear, etc.

― François Dallegret (interview with ARCMTL, 2015)

Listen as Louis Rastelli talks to François Dallegret, in 2015, about the principles that guided him in designing the original interior of The New Penelope, on Sherbrooke Street, in 1966:

Listen to the audio clip with transcript: “The new New Penelope as told by its designer”.

Many former New Penelope concertgoers agree that the seating was not very comfortable. Yet they also agree that once the music started, it didn’t matter much!

If his Le Drug and The New Penelope interiors do not exist anymore, some of his other projects are still part of Montreal’s visual landscape, such as his outdoor concrete seating at the Olympic Stadium (1978) and the logo for the Canadian Center for Architecture.

The Sidetrack, the People’s Favorites Frank Zappa Live at The New Penelope!