The rise and fall of Le Palais des Nains, the palace where tourists became giants

On Rachel Street East, across the street from La Banquise and next door to the Montreal microbrewery outpost of Pit Caribou, there used to be two stone lions guarding an empty lot since 1926, weathered by decades of Montreal winters. Gone now, replaced by a three-storey condo building, it was once the site of one of the city's strangest tourist attractions: Le Palais des Nains, also known as the Midget's Palace.

For over six decades, tour buses pulled up to 961 Rachel Est, disgorging visitors who paid their dimes to spend an hour feeling like giants in a world built for people three feet tall. Inside, Philippe and Rose Nicol had created something a fully functional home where every piece of furniture, doorknob, and mirror was scaled down to their size. Tourists had to crouch to see their reflections, couldn't sit on the chairs without crushing them, and found themselves bumping their heads on deliberately lowered ceilings.