Saint-Sauveur gets its namesake from Jean le Sueur who in 1653 was the first secular priest to come to New France. The neighborhood, while initially being considered for the founding of Quebec, remained rural and sparsely populated until the 1840s. The success of the shipyards, timber trade and port activity led to the rapid development of Saint-Sauveur in the mid 19th century. Since then the neighborhood become a hub for poor workers and sadly given the neighborhood’s location outside of Quebec City no building regulations were ever mandated and Saint-Sauveur experienced two devastating fires in 1866 and 1889. The neighborhood also didn’t have access to Quebec’s water distribution network. Thankfully in 1889 Saint-Sauveur was annexed into Quebec and the City authorities greatly improved the neighborhood building sewers, pavements, lighting streets, and of course adding water service. While always being gritty Saint Sauveur never experienced wholesale disinvestment but has seen increased interest and investment in recent decades.
Saint Sauveur is a solid urban district, at least between Verdun and Bd Langelier. West of Verdun the neighborhood gets either industrial or more suburban in character. One can easily feel the working class roots of Saint-Sauveur as most of the housing are rowhouses and modest. But thankfully working class rowhouse fabric lends itself to a compact and walkable district with a solid commercial district running down Rue Saint-Vallier. Housing prices are also very reasonable for both rental and for sale. For Saint-Sauveur to become a top notch urban district it needs to tame a couple wide and autocentric roads (Rue Marie-dl’Incarnation & Bd Charest O). The tree canopy is also very limited , there are no up-to-date ADA curbs, and only a handful of dedicated bike lanes exist.
Click here to view my Saint-Sauveur Album on Flickr
URBAN STRENGTHS:
* Nice commercial district along Rue Saint-Vallier especially along the eastern edge.
* Pretty good park amenities including the extensive Victoria Park and lots of small parkettes and plazas spread throughout.
* Good cultural amenities including a great array of restaurants, bars, & cafes, a couple art galleries, and several performing arts venues.
* Good retail amenities as well including several super markets, a couple pharmacies, lots of unique and locally owned stores but not high end and some other typically neighborhood stores.
* For sale housing is very reasonable for such a quality urban district close to the center of town. Top of the market is about 500K for a 3 & 4 bedroom.
* Rentals prices are also very reasonable.
URBAN WEAKNESSES:
* Rue Marie-de-incarnation is a very wide road and the northern parts of it get pretty autocentric. Bd Charest O gets very autocentric on its western half.
* West of Verdun St. the urban fabric generally breakdown and there is a lot of more suburban residential areas and industrials sections.
* Tree canopy is limited
* Dense urban architecture but architecture is very striped down working close rowhouses from the turn of the 20th century.
* Very few of the curb cuts are up to modern ADA standards.
* Several dedicated bike stations but only a handfull of bike lanes.
Evaluating our Urban Communities [with a focus on America] 