Roger Taillibert, Olympic Stadium architect, dies at 93

Published Oct. 3, 2019 4:32 p.m. ET

MONTREAL (AP) — Roger Taillibert, the architect who designed Montreal's 1976 Olympic Stadium and relentlessly defended it against critics, has died. He was 93.

Montreal Mayor Valerie Plante wrote on Twitter Thursday that Taillibert has left the city a great legacy. They mayor says the stadium is “known in the four corners of the world and it gave us certain great moments in our history."

Tallibert, a renowned French architect, created hundreds of other buildings, including the Parc des Princes stadium and Deauville swimming pool in France and the Khalifa Stadium in Qatar.

But in Canada, he's best known for the stadium that was the centerpiece of the nation’s first Olympics and later the home of the Montreal Expos. It remains a defining feature of Montreal's skyline. But it has been lambasted for ongoing maintenance issues and a billion-dollar price tag that took the city 30 years to pay off.