Westmount Quebec- Montreal’s most Famous Anglophone Community

Traditionally, the community of Westmount has been a wealthy and predominantly anglophone enclave, having been at one point the richest community in Canada. It is now the most affluent neighborhood in Canada outside of Toronto and Vancouver. The Village of Côte St-Antoine was first incorporated in 1874, which was later renamed Westmount in 1895, reflecting its location on the southwest slope of Mount Royal and the presence of a large English-speaking population. In the twentieth century, Westmount was home to some of Montreal’s wealthiest families including the Bronfmans and the Molsons. This made the City a target of the Front de libération du Québec terrorist bombings in the 1960s. Westmount was fully incorporated into the City of Montreal for a time in the mid-2000s but was able to regain most of its autonomy shortly after. Its strong anglophone roots exist to this day as English is spoken in about 70% of homes.

This urban inner ring suburb reminds me a lot of Brookline MA. Westmount contains a Downtown area between Dorchester and Sherbrooke and Ave Greene to the southern border of Montreal, which functions in many ways as an extension of Dwtn Montreal. The southern eastern edge of Westmount between Route 136 and Sherbrooke is very dense with a mix of apartments and rowhouse fabric and including the Dwtn area mentioned above, lots of mixed-use fabric along Saint-Catherine and a great neighborhood commercial district along several blocks of Sherbrook. Between Sherbrooke and The Boulevard is a quality medium density residential area mixing mostly rowhouse, single family bldgs, and a few apartment bldgs. Btwn the Boulevard and Mount Royal is almost all single family homes including many mansions built between the 1910s-1960s. Westmount’s biggest urban challenge is a lack of affordable for-sale housing. A good number of moderate rentals exist however exist here. Public transit access and bike infrastructure also not as good as most other central Montreal neighborhoods.

Click here to view my Westmount album on Flickr

URBAN STRENGTHS:

* Great tree canopy.
* Three excellent commercial districts (dwtn, and along Sherbrooke and Saint-Catherine.
* Lots of excellent historic architecture throughout Westmount.
* Rental housing is more reasonably priced than for-sale options.
* Good retail options including several supermarkets, great array of boutiques and clothing stores, lots of higher end and specialty stores, a decent shopping mall in Dwtn Westmount, plenty of banks, great array of restaurants and cafes.
* Decent cultural amenities (esp. Dwtn) including several art galleries, a cineplex, and a couple museums. The Westmount public library is gorgeous too and looks like a conservatory.

URBAN WEAKNESSES:

* Good public transit service but not as good as most of central Montreal. One subway stop on the edge of Dwtn Westmont and several others on their southeastern edge. Public transit access not that great in the lower density northwestern edge.
* Some dedicated bike lanes but not ask good as the rest of central Montreal. Dedicated bike stations good Dwtn and decent in Westmount’s most dense areas but pretty limited elsewhere.
* For sale housing is rather expensive. 1 & 2 bed condos start at 600K and 3 at 900K.
* Limited retail and mixed-use fabric outside of the 3 biz districts.

La Petite-Patrie- Hosts Montreal’s Largest Hispanic and Quality Working Cloass Urban District

“Until the late 19th century, La Petite-Patrie was mainly agricultural, with the exception of limestone quarries, now the location of Père Marquette Park. The construction of a tramway in 1892 linking the neighborhood to downtown led to the urbanization of the area, which continued until about the 1950s. La Petite-Patrie area includes several ethnic communities, including an Italian community, a Vietnamese community and more recently a large Latin American community.

La Petite-Patririe is a solid urban neighborhood with a thriving commercial district along Rue St-Hubert, plenty of mixed-use streets, excellent access to two subway lines and 5 subways stops, and great bike infrastructure. All around this is a very walkable and multi-model community. La Petite-Patrie manages to be a solid urban district even with a high poverty rate of just over 1/3 of its residents. Unfortunately the price of for sale homes, while more moderate than surrounding gentrifying districts, is way out of reach of most residents in the neighborhood. For La Petite-Patrie to became an even better urban district I’d also like to see improved urban form and quality infill along some if its auto centric edges (i.e. Av. Papineau and Bd Rosemont), more park amenities, and more affordable for-sale options.

Click here to view my Petite-Patrie Album on Flickr

URBAN STRENGTHS:

Also decent biz districts along Rue Bélanger, and Saint Denis and Christophe-Colombo are nice residential Blvd.
Excellent commercial district along Rue St-Hubert with comfortable new streetscaping, covering pathways and tons of stores.
Good tree canopy throughout most of the district.
Urban form is generally good with consistent rowhouse fabric ranging from 1900s-1960s architecture.
Pere-Marquette Park is a decent size and multi-faceted. Some other smaller parkettes and plazas spread throughout.
For sale housing has more moderately priced 1 & 2 bed options than neighboring Little Italy but still plenty of higher priced hsg. Similar trend with rentals.
Great local retail options especially along Rue St-Hubert. Lots of more affordable retail as well. Also several supermarkets and drug stores.
Good cultural amenities including plenty of restaurants & bars, several night clubs & local theaters.
Great subway access with 5 metro stops. Also wonderful bike infrastructure including several dedicated bike lanes and plenty of bike rental stations.

URBAN WEAKNESSES

While urban form is good the detailing of the architecture is pretty plain.
Rosemont is a mixed-use street but rather gritty and has a lot of autocentric uses, pretty uncharacteristic for this part of Montreal. Av. Papineau on the Northeastern edge of the neighborhood has these issues too but not as severe.
Very working class neighborhood with a high poverty rate (36%). But much more intact and thriving than the equivalent American urban neighborhood.”

Montreal’s Little Italy Neighborhood

Montreal’s Little Italy developed in the early 20th century but the fabric of the neighborhood filled in through the 1960s. The largest wave of Italian immigrants arrived in Montreal at the end of WWII and continued through the 1970s, after which Italian immigration tailed off. Montreal has the second largest Italian population in Canada after Toronto.

The neighborhood still very much has its Italians roots with many small businesses operated by Italian immigrants. But it is much more than that thanks to the Jean-Talon market, and the neighborhood’s gentrification. Little Italy boast great mixed-use and vibrant urban fabric thanks to several business districts and mixed use streets running through it (i.e. St. Lauren Blvd, Rue Jean-Talon, rue Saint- Zoutique, Rue Beaubien, Rue Dante, and the Jean-Talon Market). Plenty of mixed-use blocks in other parts of the district. The neighborhood also boasts a decent # of small-medium parks, great retail and food and beverage amenities, and moderately priced rentals. For sale housing is however getting expensive here as 2-bed start at 500K and 3-beds at 800K. The tree canopy could also be better.

Click here to view my Montreal Little Italy Album on Flickr

URBAN STRENGTHS:

Other commercial districts include Rue Jean-Talon (a bit wide and autocentric at points), Rue Beaubien (comfortable and relaxed for pedestrians), Rue Saint-Zoutique (similar to Beaubien but more residential uses), Rue Dante (even more mixed-use), and the Jean Talon Market and all the business streets that surround it. Plenty of mixed use blocks as well throughout Little Italy.
Very active commercial district along St. Laurent Blvd especially between the Little Italy neighborhood branding signs (btwn Rue Jean-Talon & Rue Saint-Zoutique). Also good mixed-use infill here as well.
Saint Denis becomes mostly residential in Little Italy and has an regal feel with larger historic apt bldgs matching a pretty wide tree line road.
Le Marche Jean-Talon is excellent with good hours tons of vendors and many spin off businesses adjacent to it.
Decent number of parkettes, playgrounds, and plazas but not as good as Le Plateau or “”The Village””. The expansive Parc Jarry is only a couple blocks Northwester of Little Italy.
Great array of food & beverage businesses, a couple performing arts theaters and local cinemas, and a couple art galleries.
Great retail amenities as well including a couple supermarkets, tons of small grocerias thnaks to the Jean-Talon Marche, several drug stores, plenty of boutiques & gift shops, several book stores, lots of bakeries & dessert shops, and plenty of churches.
Rental product is pretty moderately priced.
Good subway access with 6 stations sitting on two edges of the district. Several dedicated bike lanes and lots of bike sharing stations.

URBAN WEAKNESSES:

The architecture being more mid-20th century is less ornate than neighboring Le Plateau or even Mile End but I still find it interesting.
A bit gritty in spots but not much vacancy fortunately.
Tree canopy is decent considering the limited amount of space in a dense rowhouse neighborhood.
For sale product is pretty expansive but also on the high side. But still some moderately priced condo product with some 1-beds selling in the 300K&400. 2-beds start at 500K and 3-beds at 800K.”

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.”

Le Plateau- arguably Montreal’s best Urban District

Plateau is a larger neighborhood containing several sub districts I consider neighborhoods on their own right (i.e. Mile End, De Lormier, Laurier-Est, and Milton Parc). Plateau is arguably Montreal’s best urban district outside of the Center City thanks to its several great business districts (St. Laurent Blvd, Saint Denis St, Ave Mont-Royal, and Rue Rachael,) and a couple smaller scaler pedestrian streets mixed-use streets i.e. (Duluth, Rue and Prince-Arthur) and lots of mixed-use blocks often with commercial on the corner buildings.

The neighborhood takes its name from its location on a plateau, on the eastern side of Mont-Royal. Starting in 1745, the urbanized area of Montreal began to extend beyond its fortifications and the Plateau-Mont-Royal was born as Faubourg Saint-Laurent extended to the northwest. In the early twentieth century, The Plateau was mostly a working class neighborhood but gradually in 1900s it became more economically well off and cosmopolitan especially the sections closest to Mount Royal Parc where many Protestant traders and Jewish business owners operated shops on St. Lawrence Boulevard. Greek Canadians set up shop mostly along Park Avenue (Northwest of Mont Royal) and more recently, Vietnamese and Portuguese settled in the Plateau. Since the 1980s, the area’s bohemian aura and proximity to McGill University attracted young professionals, artists, musicians, students. and the neighborhood began to gentrify. While Le Plateau likely experienced grit and some crime in the 1970s & 1980s I don’t get the sense that it ever faced serious disinvestment. In the 21st century Le Plateau is known as having the highest concentration of youths in Montreal and has interestingly attracted a large number of French-born residents giving it the nomenclature “le Petit-Paris”.

There aren’t many areas of fault I can find with Le Plateau as it is basically my idealized urban district hosting high but not overwhelming density, great access to public transit and especially bike infrastructure, amazing mixed-use fabric with several pedestrian streets, great public parks along with a wonderful array of retail and restaurant amenities. The neighborhood would likely be on my top 10 list if I ranked it alongside my best American urban neighborhoods. Probably its biggest need is for more affordable housing especially affordable for sale options.

Click here to view my Le Plateau neighborhood on Flickr

URBAN STRENGTHS

Convenient access to 4 subway stops and incredible bike infrastructure
Excellent walkable neighborhood thanks to 6 business districts and lots of mixed-use blocks.
Great array of late 19th century French inspired rowhouse architecture mixed-in with quality urban in-fill. This probably has the best concentration of the iconic Quebec spiral staircase.
Convenient access to several outstanding parks (i.e. Mount Royal Park, Parc de la Fontaine, Saint-Louis Square. Also lots of well designed playgrounds and pocket parks generally interspersed every other block.
Decent tree canopy tucked into dense rowhouse blocks. Much more trees than one would expect for such a dense neighborhood.
Excellent cultural amenities including great food & bev bizs, several local theaters, a couple movie theaters, plenty of live music venues & night clubs, several art galleries, and a couple local museums.
Great retail amenities too esp. with all the supermarkets, drug stores, lots of bookstores, clothing stores, dessert stores/bakeries, gyms, churches, boutiques.
Lots of studios, 1-beds and 2-beds. 3 & 4 bed rentals are a bit limited. Prices are a bit expensive but not terrible considering the high level of urbanity in Plateau.
For sale product is pretty expansive but also on the high side. But still some moderately priced condo product with some 1-beds selling in the 300K&400 and 2-beds selling in the 400Ks & 500Ks.
Lots of interesting murals and public art spread throughout the Plateau.

URBAN WEAKNESSES:

Some intersections don’t have up to set ADA curb cuts.
Alleyways aren’t very inviting and not well kept. Some grit in spots. Back yards are not the most attractive.
Rent and especially for sale housing gets pricey but much than its equivalent quality urban district in east coast American cities and certainly cheaper than its equivalent in San Francisco.”

Sainte-Marie- a once distressed but not Revitalizing Urban District on Montreal’s Northeast Side

Sainte-Marie is a solid urban district mixing a lot of different styles from the 1910s-1960s with older blocks towards the southwestern edge of the neighborhood. Sainte-Marie, and the Centre-Sud more broadly, have a long held reputation for poverty, organized crime and prostitution. Because of this, much of Sainte-Marie was demolished for urban renewal in the 1950s and 1960s. Fortunately most of what was rebuilt had decent urban form.

Ontario Street is the best commercial district running the length of the neighborhood. Some good mixed-use stretches along St. Catherine as well and plenty of other mixed-use blocks throughout Sainte-Marie. As the district is still recovering from several decades of blight, crime, and prostitution from the 1950s even into the early 2000s, much of the neighborhood still has a gritty feel and some blocks are even blighted. But the neighborhood is clearly on an upward trajectory and this is certainly reflected in its real estate prices. Filling the main vacant or underutilized commercial spaces, especially along St. Catherine, is a priority in my opinion for improving Sainte-Marie and creating more vibrancy.

Click here to view my Sainte-Marie neighborhood on Flickr

URBAN STRENGTHS:

Good commercial district along Ontario street, some good mixed-use stretches along St. Catherines.
Sherbrooke has a good urban feel with larger apt buildings lining a 5 lane streets. Get a bit too autocentric in the Northwestern edge.
Good number of small and medium sized parks but not as many as The Village.
Access to 3 metro stations. Also a good # of bike lanes and dedicated bike stations although not as many as other neighborhoods.
Pretty good tree canopy.
Decent amount of rentals and generally moderately priced. Good amount of 2 & 3 beds too.
Lots of for-sale options. Some more affordable 1 & 2 bedroom condos. 3 & 4 beds are plentiful but expensive.
Decent cultural amenities including lots of restaurants, bars, & cafes, and some night clubs.
Good retail amenities too including several supermarkets, some drug stores, several boutiques, a couple gyms, some bakeries & dessert shops, and other neighborhood shops.
About half of the ADA curb cuts are to modern standards, which is pretty good for Montreal.

URBAN WEAKNESSES:

Still a lot of grit and even some blight in parts. This was one of Montreal’s notorious crime and prostitution neighborhoods until the early 2000s but it has come a long way since then.
Not much beyond food & beverage businesses for cultural amenities.
Could be a lot more retail amenities especially unique and locally owned shops.
Architecture while good urban form is often lackluster and utilitarian.
Decent amount of dead spaces or underutilized spots in some of the commercial districts.

The Village- Montreal’s LBGT District

The Village (akak Centre-Sud) was originally a poor working-class rowhouse neighborhood given its close proximity to the Saint Lawrence Seaway. The Centre-Sud neighborhood became increasingly attractive to the gay and lesbian community (both anglophone and francophone) in the 1980s attracted by the neighborhood’s affordability after the migration of many LGBT businesses from other parts of the city. The name Le Village de l’Est (“the East Village”) was promoted by one the main Gay business owners modeled after his time living in New York City’s East Village. Eventually, the name was simplified to “The Village”. The area has become considerably gentrified since the 1990s due in part to significant investment from all levels of all government.

While still hosting Montreal’s largest LGBT community, The Village is one on Montreal’s best urban districts outside of the Dwtn core thanks to its mixed-use character, 4 urban commercial districts, abundance of pocket parks and playgrounds, great retail & cultural amenities, excellent public transit and bike infrastructure, and solid urban form where modern in-fill mixes seemingly with historic rowhouses. The Village has also managed to squeeze in a ridiculous amount of trees inside the tight rowhouse blocks and the main commercial district (Saint Catherine) has largely been pedestrianized. The main improvement I would like to see of the district is more affordable 3 & 4 bedroom homes and apartments. This would make the district more appealing for families. There is also a fair amount of grit reminding one of the neighborhood’s sketchy history but for the true urbanist, this poses little issue.

Click here to view “The Village” album on my Flickr Page

URBAN STRENGTHS:

* The Village hosts one of Montreal’s longest pedestrian streets along St. Catherine.
* One of Montreal’s most vibrant and mixed-use districts outside of Dwtn. Also a large office present especially along the district’s southwestern edge.
* Nice mixed of historic and quality urban in-fil.
* Four major commercial districts (Rue Ontario, Bd de Maisonneuve, Atateken, and Saint Catherine St.).
* Lots of small pocket parks and plazas. Most blocks in The Village have their own neighborhood park. A couple medium sized parks located on the edge of the district, although the expansive Parc La Fountaine is only a couple blocks Northwest of the district. All the pocket parks and very intentional tree planting in the small backyards creates a decent tree canopy.
* Excellent bike infrastructure including several dedicated lanes and many bike sharing stations. The neighborhood is also served by 4 subway stations and has great proximity to Dwtn and Vieux Montreal.
* Lots of studio, 1-bed & 2 bed rentals availably and moderately priced.
* Decent for sale options but generally on the expensive side. 1-bed condos start around 250K and 2-beds around 300K. Some 3 beds available too starting at around 400K. Price go above 1 M across all sizes.
* Excellent retail amenities including several supermarkets and drug stores. Solid all around cultural amenities especially, restaurants, bars, cafes

URBAN WEAKNESSES:

* Plenty of grit and underutilized buildings spread throughout The Village.
* Av. Papineau and René-Lévesque East are wider roads that line two of the Village edges and are have a more auto-centric feel.
* Modern ADA curbs is hit or miss.
* 3 & 4 Bedroom apartments are pretty limited and expensive.

Vieux Montreal- One of North American’s Oldest Districts

Founded by French settlers in 1642 as Fort Ville-Marie, Old Montreal is home to many structures dating back to the era of New France and is one of the oldest districts in North America. The District’s original streets included the Rue Notre-Dame, the Rue Saint-Paul and Rue Saint-Jacques. The original fortifications of Montreal, erected in 1717 formed the boundaries of Montreal and didn’t expand for almost 100 years when the British authorities decided to tear them down and allow the City to expand. Montreal also enacted a wood ban in 1721, which is why almost all Vieux Montreal’s historic building are made of that iconic Quebec stone. The 19th century witnessed the emergence of the English and Scottish bourgeoisie merchants. Their growing activity significant expanded the importance of the port , built new centers of banking, commerce & insurance concentrated along St. James St., and ultimately lead to a decline in Vieux Montreal’s residential base as the wealthy merchants built extravagant homes closer to Mount Royal (Golden Square Mile). The Architecture also became distinctively late-19th-century Victorian in styling, a significant departure from the stone masonry used during the French era. The district continued to grow until the Great Depression, which caused the relocation of port facilities and the heart of Downtown Montreal moved further west. Many abandoned warehouses and commercial building were left behind and mid-century planners considered urban renewal and highway proposals. Fortunately this galvanized public support to save Vieux Montreal and a Historic District was established for most of the neighborhood in 1964.

Since then Vieux Montreal steadily revitalizing bringing back residents, tourist, shops and night life to the neighborhood and becoming one of Montreal most dense and lively neighborhoods. Quality urban planning efforts also reclaimed the Vieux Port leading to a lengthy promenade, park space, and publicly accessibly piers with major regional destinations. Saint Paul’s and Place Jacque Cartier were converted into vibrant pedestrian streets and the district is served well be several metro stations running along its western edge and great bike infrastructure.

I believe Vieux Montreal could improve in a couple urban areas. First off, the pedestrian zone can be greatly expanded, especially during the weekend. Several blocks of Saint Paul’s are still open to traffic and many other blocks in the heart of the district didn’t feel they needed car access. Vieux Montreal also needs more neighborhood amenities such as a supermarkets, larger stores, public library, and even medical offices.

Click here to view my Vieux Montreal Album and here to for my Vieux Port Album

URBAN STRENGTHS:

* But far Montreal’s best collection of Historic architecture but a really interesting mix of eras generally starting with 18th century buildings closest to the seaway and ending up with early 20th century office bldgs along the western edge of Vieux Montreal.
* Several important landmarks here including: Notre-Dame Basilica of Montreal, Notre-Dame-de-Bon-Secours Chapel, Marché Bon Secours, Montreal City Hall, Tour de l’Horloge, La Grande Roue de Montréal, Nelson’s Column, Alfred Building, the Montreal Stock Exchange, Saint-Sulpice Seminary,
* Vieux Port running along the Saint Lawrence Seaway is also wonderful and a lengthy pedestrian promenade, plentiful park space, and access to lots of attractions along its many piers.
* Very pedestrian scaled and lots of small blocks.
* Several break plaza spaces including Place d’Armes, Place de la Dauversière, Le Champ-de-Mars, Parc place d’Youville
* Excellent pedestrian only stretches along several blocks of Saint Paul’s and the Place Jacques Cartier
* Great bike infrastructure including many dedicated bike sharing stations and several dedicated bike lanes.
* Several metro stations run alongside the western edge of Vieux Montreal.
* Excellent cultural amenities especially food & bev business, art galleries, Museums, night clubs/live music, an Imax theater, and performing arts theater.
* Great retail amenities including tons of boutiques/clothing stores, gift shops, creative stores, a couple book stores, plenty of bakeries & dessert shops, several gyms & churches, and a post office.

URBAN WEAKNESSES:

Parts of the district would be difficult to live given the intense night life. Saint Paul’s and Place Jacques Cartier.
Missing a major supermarket, department store, drug store, public library, and medical offices. Fortunately these amenities are all located Downtown and in the International district only a 1/2 mile away.
Some sidewalks and narrow and this can be a bit difficult to navigate as a pedestrian when car traffic is high.

Quartier des Spectacles- Montreal’s exciting Arts-based District

While Downtown encompasses the Quartier des Spectacles I didn’t include it in my Downtown review and kept it as its own distinctive neighborhood. For the Downtown review I’m including everything south of City Councilors St. to Guy Street along with the Golden Square Mile neighborhood, considered by most standards to be part of Dwtn but also a bit autonomous . This stretches west to Mount Royal Park. The main spine of Downtown runs down Sherbrooke St. This formed the historic heart of Golden Square Mile where Montreal’s turn of the 19th century millionaires settled. Eventually all of the mansions on the northern stretch of Sherbrooke were replaced with post WWII skyscrapers creating a pretty bland and soulless American urban environment. But many mansions and historic structures were preserved in the southern half of Sherbrooke between Stanley and Guy street.

Saint-Catherine St is the great historic shopping district of Dwtn Montreal akin to Chicago’s Miracle Mile. It remains at a very human scaled with mostly historic commercial buildings remaining. Recent improvements have improved the urban form expanding the sidewalks and make the street even more human scaled. In the southern half of Dwtn Bishop, Rue de la Montagne, and especially Crescent, are three narrow east to west streets that preserve some of Montreal’s best late 19th century grand townhouse architecture. The northern half of Dwtn is mostly post WWII high-rises with the main exception of many historic buildings surrounding Phillips Square. West of Sherbrooke is a mostly residential neighborhood mixing historic and modern residences and institutional uses from McGill University.

Parts of Downtown are not the most exciting because of a large amount of bland high-rises, plenty of wide blocks, and a lack of premier park spaces. But because of its density, good urban planning, smart urban design decisions, good pedestrian activity and great remaining shopping Downtown Montreal has been able to largely overcome these downsides. When adding the exciting Quartier des Spectacles I would still likely include Downtown Montreal as a top 10 Dwtn in North America. The height restriction creates an interesting uniformity to the highest skyscrapers in Montreal as none can exceed the height of Mount Royal (232 Meters). Overall I like this especially when viewed Dwtn from Mount Royal or from afar but it does create some blandness on the ground. Fortunately the new skyscrapers being built are a lot more unique and creative.

Click to view my Quartier des Spectacles and Quartier de Latin Albums on Flickr

URBAN STRENGTHS:

Really nice mix of modern and historic architecture. Even some of the ugly brutalist buildings in the heart of the Quartier des Spectacles is soften by good urban design.
Great concentration of parks, plazas and theaters & cinemas. Quartier des Spectacles certainly does well in other cultural amenities.
Strong student presence with the University of Quebec in Montreal spread throughout in multiple places.
Two great urban pedestrian districts; St. Catherine’s that cuts through the heart of the district and Rue Denis also considered the Latin Quartier and biz heart of the University.
Good vibrancy and few surface parking lots.
Excellent bike infrastructure and access to several metro stations.
While not quite as great as Dwtn still great retail options including the Complexes Desjardins (Shopping Mall), several department stores, plenty of clothing stores, several supermarkets & drug stores, and plenty of other retails.”

URBAN WEAKNESSES:

Some grit in points especially along Ontario and some northern blocks of St. Catherine’s.
Plenty of cold 1960s and 1970 architecture but urban designers have done a great job at softening the building with quality streetscaping and plaza spaces in the heart of the district.”

Downtown Montreal, Quebec

Click here to view my Montreal Album on Flickr

URBAN STRENGTHS:

* Some major Dwtn landmarks include Mary, Queen of the World Cathedral, Saint Patrick’s Cathedral. The Montreal Museum of Fine Arts, the Sun Life Bldg.,
* Several attractive parks and plazas including Phillips Square, Dorchester Square, and Place du Canada. But not including Mount Royal.
* Excellent public transit access including 6 subway stops. Same with the dedicated bike lane network Dwtn where most are separated by barriers. Feeds into an incredible bike network across the City and Metro. The dedicated bike station system is also one of the best (if not best) in North America.
* Decent bike canopy.
* Generally solid pedestrian activity especially along Saint-Catherine (Canada’s business commercial avenue) and the more historic and mixed-use sections of Dwtn.
* Solid cultural amenities of a Dwtn but with several movie theaters including several indie theaters and a cineplex
* Very good retail amenities Dwtn including a couple supermarkets and lots of ethnic groceries, plenty of drug stores, a great array of clothing stores concentrated along St. Catherine St., several shopping malls including the extensive Eaton Mall and the underground City (the largest underground shopping mall in the world. This comes with many department stores. Other retail amenities are pretty standard for a Dwtn.
* Good pedestrian activity in much of Dwtn but still plenty of dead spaces.
* Lots of residential options Dwtn, generally expensive but not terrible. Solid density with about 20K per square mile living in the greater Dwtn area.
* Lots of universities studies thanks to McGill, the University of Quebec in Montreal and many other smaller colleges.

URBAN WEAKNESSES:

* Limited modern ADA curbs.
* Plenty of modern single use skyscrapers from the 1960s-2000 in the northern and eastern edges of Dwtn which creates some dead spaces.
* No extraordinary parks spaces in Dwtn Montreal as found in other great North American cities like Chicago, NYC, or Boston.
* Several wide autocentric streets run through dwtn still. Thankfully the highway in the Center City Montreal is underground in Dwtn.