Mile End- Montreal’s Iconic Artists District hosting some of the City’s best Mixed-Use Fabric

The name Mile End was likely inspired by the East London suburb. The neighborhood remained a pretty bucolic village unit the transcontinental railway gave Mile End its first growth spurt and separate identity in the late 1870s. The second growth spurt of Mile End coincided with the introduction of electric tramway service in 1893. The village of Mile End eventually changed its name to Saint-Louis and was referred to again as Mile End until 1980s .

Mile End seemed to always historically be a very working class neighborhood with larger immigrant populations, especially Jewish , Greek and Italian but in the 1980s it became one Montreal’s premier artistic neighborhoods and began a long path to gentrification. Because of its more sparse brick rowhouse architecture the neighborhood has become very popular as a stand in for New York City set movies. Fascinatingly Montreal is also known for its bagels and some of the City’s most famous bagel shops (i.e. , Fairmount Bagel and St. Viateur Bagel) are located here.

From an urban perspective this is probably Montreal’s most mixed-use district outside of Downtown and Vieux Montreal. There are several major commercial districts including: Park Ave, St. Laurent Blvd, Avenue Laurier, Ave. Fairmount, Rue Saint-Viateur, Rue Bernard and a good amount of mixed-use bldgs in the more warehouse district in the Northwestern portion of the neighborhood along Gaspe and Casgrain Avenues. Mile End boast great cultural and retail amenities, excellent bike infrastructure, and good subway access. Rentals are also pretty modest here, while for sale homes are expensive similar to Le Plateau. While Mile End has good access to Mont Royal Parc on its Southeastern corner, parks and tree canopy are a bit limited. Modern ADA curb cuts are sparse and the neighborhood still is pretty gritty, a downside to some. But if one is looking for a high quality medium density district without the need for a car, this checks all the boxes.

Click here to view my Mile End album on Flickr

URBAN STRENGTHS:

• Architecture is an interesting mixed of styles from the first half of the 20th century. Tons of iconic Montreal exterior spiral stairs. Good urban in-fill especially in the warehouse part of Mile End along the Northwest edge. Several really iconic churches (i.e. Église catholique Saint-Enfant-Jésus, Church of St. Michael and St. Anthony, and St. Viator Catholic Church).
• Probably the most mixed-use district in Montreal outside of Dwtn and Vieux Montreal.
• Excellent bike infrastructure including any dedicated bike lanes and bike sharing stations.
• Excellent cultural amenities esp. restaurants, bars, cafes, art galleries, theatres, and several local cinemas.
• Great array of retail amenities as well esp. supermarkets, small grocerias, drug stores, lots of vintage/consignment stores, antiques, boutiques, bookstores, bakeries, and yes bagel shops.
• Decent amount of rental product and pretty moderately priced. Even 2 & 3 beds lease in the low-mid $2,000s.
• Good access to the entrance of Mont Royal Parc. Otherwise a handful of playgrounds, parklets & plazas throughout.

URBAN WEAKNESSES:

• Lots grit in the district. Architecture is more striped down and less ornate than the neighboring Plateau District.
• Limited modern ADA curb cuts.
• Several subway stations sit just north of Mile Ends boundaries. Still very good bus service.
• Tree canopy is decent but not as good as neighboring districts like Le Plateau. Still impressed how many trees they can fit in dense rowhouse courtyards.
• For sale product is really just as expensive as Le Plateu but within smaller, cheaper product.”