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Old Posted Aug 12, 2013, 8:27 PM
leftimage leftimage is offline
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Pointe Saint-Charles - One of Montreal's most unique neighbourhoods

The following set was shot yesterday in Montreal's historic Pointe-Saint-Charles neighbourhood: one of the cities lesser known gems.

(from Wiki)

Twenty years after the founding of Ville-Marie in 1642, he granted an area on the pointe Saint-Charles, extending into the St. Lawrence, to St. Marguerite Bourgeoys for agricultural use by the Congrégation de Notre-Dame. The sisters operated a sharecropping farm on the land. The nuns built the Maison Saint-Gabriel, the only remaining trace of their farm and one of the oldest buildings in Montreal, on their property in 1698.

Urbanization began with the enlargement of the Lachine Canal, as the transportation access and water power attracted industry to the whole of what is now the Sud-Ouest borough. The installation of railways and the construction of the Victoria Bridge also attracted workers and spurred development. Numerous workers moved in, including numerous Irish immigrants as well as French-Canadians, English, Scots and in the early 20th century, the Poles, Ukrainians and the Lithuanians.

By the 1860s the area was a busy industrial neighbourhood, one of Canada's first industrial slums. Notably, the development on Grand Trunk Row introduced the stacked "duplex," based on British working-class housing, that would come to be so typical of neighbourhoods throughout Montreal. Building continued in the central Rushbrooke/Hibernia area until 1910.

Like the rest of the area around the Lachine Canal, the neighbourhood went into a long decline in the 1960s, caused by the opening of the St. Lawrence Seaway and sealed by the closure of the Lachine Canal. The destruction of Goose Village and the construction of the Bonaventure Autoroute further impacted the area. Still, the neighbourhood reacted to the difficult times by forming bands of social solidarity. For example, the Clinique communautaire de Pointe-Saint-Charles was founded in 1968 to offer health and social services to local residents; it inspired the CLSC model used throughout the province, while remaining an independent clinic with the mandate of a CLSC. The Montreal Metro reached Pointe-Saint-Charles in 1978 with the construction of Charlevoix station. In recent years, the neighbourhood has undergone significant gentrification.


Shipping containers on Wellington Street.




Centenary United Church (1930)




Restaurants on Centre Street




View of neighboring Griffintown from Wellington bridge.




Underpass on Wellington street, entering a residential area of Pointe Saint-Charles.




Old Bank of Montreal building (1901). No longer serves as a bank.




Café Wellington. Notice the shipping container-look. A recurring theme in this part of Pointe-Saint-Charles.




One of the Pointe's numerous dépanneurs.






Gurudwara Sahib Temple (1900)






Maison Saint-Gabriel (1668). One of the oldest structures on the island of Montreal. Received over 50 ''filles du Roy''





A sculpture in the magnificent parc Marguerite-Bourgeoys.






Car on Ropery street.





Another dépanneur.





A mixed-use building on Centre street.





The once-famous Restaurant Magnan. Still a very well-known establishment in Montreal.




Once part of the Redpath refinery, these silos are now home to an indoor rock-climbing facility.




Old businesses on Saint-Patrick street.





In foreground, the redpath refinery on the banks of Lachine canal, converted into condos a decade ago.

In background, the Northern Electric complex (Nordelec), the largest brick building in Quebec. 1100-unit residential project is underway.





Bike path along canal Lachine in Point-Saint-Charles. Path begins in Old Port and ends in the neighborhood of Lachine.





Redpath sugar refinery original gates.





Redpath silos.




Pointe-Saint-Charles' most imposing building, le Nordelec (1928)





Mountains of containers just off Wellington street.





Container-switching area on Wellington street - near major transport artery
(2 off-island bridges, several train tracks & highways)





Most lamp posts in Pointe-Saint-Charles look like this model.




École Charles-LeMoyne




A children's play area.





Saint-Gabriel Fire Station.




A graffiti wall.




Homes on Grand Trunk street.







Holy Spirit Ukrainian catholic church. (1948)






Another angle of the Nordelec building.


Last edited by leftimage; Aug 12, 2013 at 11:48 PM.
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