On Sunday the National Film Board is opening the doors of its Montreal headquarters to the public for one last time. Next fall, the NFB will be moving to a new building downtown, in the Quartier des Spectacles.

When the building on Côte-de-Liesse Road opened in 1956, it was a state-of-the-art film production studio — the first of its kind in Canada.

This is the NFB building as it looked in 1955, when it was under construction. (NFB)

The four-hectare complex of six separate buildings was modelled on a Hollywood film studio. One building was for wardrobe and costumes. Film was developed in another. A third housed a giant sound stage — a soundproof, hangar-like building big enough to house multiple sets.

When the building opened, to test that the sound stage was indeed soundproof, the NFB had the Royal Canadian Air Force fly a CF-100 plane over the building at a height of 150 metres.

Montreal's NFB studio complex opened in 1956. (NFB)

Among the films shot there were Jacques Godbout's IXE-13 and Pierre Falardeau's Octobre, as well as the television show Les hauts et les bas de Sophie Paquin.

The vast sound stage was modelled on a Hollywood-style studio. (NFB)

The NFB's new downtown home is to take up six floors of a new 13-storey building on Bleury Street.

At 104,000 square feet — or about the size of six-and-a-half hockey rinks — the new headquarters will house production facilities for animation, documentary and interactive production. In addition, there will be a photo library, archival space and a 135-seat theatre.

The NFB's new Montreal headquarters is now under construction on Bleury Street in the Quartier des Spectacles. (NFB)

The open house is on Sunday, Sept. 30, from 10:00 a.m. to 3 p.m. There will be guided tours and screenings, including a chance to try out a virtual reality headset.

Here is a sneak peek of what you can expect to see on Sunday.