Sooty void on St. Denis will be tricky to fill
Fire destroyed two city institutions; Street's aesthetics pivotal for reconstruction
RENE BRUEMMER
The Gazette
Thursday, July 26, 2007
CREDIT: MARIE-FRANCE COALLIER, THE GAZETTE
Residences that replaced St. Denis greystones ravaged by fire in 2003 are described as "very, very banal."
The fire that destroyed a chunk of St. Denis St. in the heart of Plateau Mont Royal on Monday has left a sooty, gaping hole in one of the city's main cultural thoroughfares.
In its aftermath come questions of how the city plans to fill the void, and how well it does in general at preserving its diverse architectural heritage.
Given the city's spotty track record for post-fire reconstruction - or infill, as it's known - the loss has raised concerns that St. Denis's streetscape could fall victim to developers with an eye focused more keenly on profit than aesthetics.
One needs to look no farther than down the block from Monday's fire to see the negative possibilities, Dinu Bumbaru of Heritage Montreal said yesterday. A series of aging greystones on St. Denis destroyed by fire in 2003 were replaced by modern residences he described as "very, very banal stuff faced with a kind of prefab fake stone."
The buildings were singled out for dishonourable mention in the heritage group's annual Oranges and Lemons awards in 2004 for their mediocrity and lack of imagination.
In defence of the Plateau Mont Royal borough, Bumbaru notes the city of Montreal was in the midst of its merger-demerger reconfiguration at the time, and bylaws ensuring urban architectural integrity were not in place.
Today, the Plateau district and the city of Westmount are the two areas of Montreal Island that are most careful about maintaining their historical appeal, he said.
"There are very, very detailed guidelines for designing buildings," he said.
"Some of the city's streets are significant, and it's important to preserve its rich landscape."
People are also concerned, given the Pharmaprix debacle of 2003, when the Plateau borough granted a permit to the owners of the building that used to house Warshaw's grocery store to change its facade and signs.
The amiably decrepit building had fit with its surroundings, but the resulting blight of glaring red and white signs and banners atop the new drugstore caused an uproar. The borough acknowledged its error and had to pay $220,000 to cover the costs of redoing the facade.
Plateau Mont Royal councillor Richard Bergeron, a vocal defender of urban architecture, agreed that the 2004 post-fire reconstruction on St. Denis was disappointing, but noted in that case it replaced buildings that were fairly bland anyway.
In the case of Monday's blaze, the fire destroyed two Montreal institutions - the art deco Le Continental French bistro and the L'Barouf bar - already renowned for their attention to detail and aesthetics. The owners of both establishments have said they plan to rebuild in the same location, if their insurance allows.
"I have complete confidence in the process in place, and that the new construction will integrate with the rest of the neighbourhood," Bergeron said.
Developers must first comply with the borough's structural integrity bylaws, then the city's urban planning committee regulations, and finally have their plans approved by the city council, Bergeron said.
Marc Snyder, a spokesperson for Plateau borough mayor Helen Fotopulos, said councillors receive more complaints from homeowners about the stringency of the rules than people not keeping up with the norms.
The borough website has 75 fact sheets outlining what can and cannot be done, and pictures are taken of the facades of its 15,000 buildings every two years. The borough received a certificate of merit from the Union des municipalit?s de Qu?bec in May for its efforts to preserve its heritage.
Preserving the look is commendable, Bumbaru said, but in the part of St. Denis hit by Monday's fire, developers and the city should try harder. That section of the street was marked by an overall visual mediocrity, he said, perhaps in part because it's a busy vehicular thoroughfare.
"It's not just a question of respecting the norms and criteria of the rules regarding urbanism," Heritage Montreal wrote when panning the 2004 St. Denis reconstruction. "One must also show imagination, talent and a certain audacity to participate in the quality of an environment like St. Denis St."
rbruemmer@thegazette.canwest.com
© The Gazette (Montreal) 2007
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