A former 19th-century shipyard, Arsenal Contemporary Montreal measures over 80,000 square feet. The building was erected in 1846 by the entrepreneur Augustin Cantin for the Montreal Marine Works and by 1857 was deemed the biggest shipyard in Montreal employing between 150 – 250 employees and producing steamboats for close to a hundred years before closing its doors. Between the 1950s and 2011, the building hosted several light industries, and in 2011, Arsenal Contemporary took possession of the building making minor alterations to its large rooms and architectural features.