Canadian Urban Canyons

[Kilgore Trout]

The eastern stretch of R-L from Robert-Bourassa to St-André is not terrible because it has street trees and a planted median. It's a bit like one of those anonymous arterial boulevards you find just outside the historic centre of most European cities:





The central stretch is the real problem. The sidewalks are narrow, there are virtually no trees, the highway-style lampposts are unspeakably ugly. This should be the teeming heart of the city but it feels exactly like somebody tried to wedge a suburban arterial through the middle of downtown.

[esquire]

^ How did Rene Levesque become that way? It's totally at odds with Montreal's more typical downtown character which is somewhat narrow streets lined with a good number of older buildings mixed with the new.

Conversely, that last pic is like Portage Avenue with more towers...

[Rico Rommheim]

A different type of canyon. DeGaspe street.

Once a hub for clothing manufacturing, De Gaspe has found a new life as a multimedia hub in central Montreal (well, pre-covid). It's actually more lively now than it was when I was growing up in the mile-end in the early 90's, when this street was a virtual ghost town. Covid has definitely given it that old ghost town vibe once again though.

Gaspe_Canyon_05_2020_10_22 by Foofoo MacShoe, on Flickr

Gaspe_Canyon_06_2020_10_22 by Foofoo MacShoe, on Flickr


Gaspe_Canyon_04_2020_10_22 by Foofoo MacShoe, on Flickr


Gaspe_Canyon_03_2020_10_22 by Foofoo MacShoe, on Flickr


Gaspe_Canyon_02_2020_10_22 by Foofoo MacShoe, on Flickr


Gaspe_Canyon_01_2020_10_22 by Foofoo MacShoe, on Flickr

[niwell]

Those old garment factories are super interesting, and based on my last visit to Mtl are beginning to see some new and interesting uses. As rico mentioned, it seemed far busier than when I stayed in the area in the early 2000s. Speaking of, I stayed at a friend's place on Casgrain - it was a weird experience having those big warehouses right across the street: https://goo.gl/maps/S1KP4hxQWMWGd8Tc6

RE: Rene-Levesque I believe it was widened in the 50s which explains it's somewhat autocentric nature. It seems a lot better now but looked a bit grim for a long time.

University Ave is one of Canada's relatively few (semi) realized attempts at a true City Beautiful style boulevard. Unfortunately it came a bit too close to the depression which cancelled the proposed terminus at the south and resulted in a ton of post-war buildings. I do actually think it has some of the most interesting collection of architecture in the city. Could use a bit of a refresh though.

[Rico Rommheim]

I was wondering if any other city in Canada has an equivalent of that type of urban fabric?

[begratto]

Originally Posted by Kilgore Trout

The eastern stretch of R-L from Robert-Bourassa to St-André is not terrible because it has street trees and a planted median. It's a bit like one of those anonymous arterial boulevards you find just outside the historic centre of most European cities:

A well-informed source on the Agora Montreal forum mentioned that a BRT - or something similar - will be built on René-Levesque. Announcement to come...

This could lead to major changes on the boulevard - and possibly years of construction work if it's anything like the SRB Pie-IX...

[esquire]

Originally Posted by Rico Rommheim

I was wondering if any other city in Canada has an equivalent of that type of urban fabric?

That is super fascinating. Never been to that part of Montreal but it is really interesting looking.

Winnipeg historically had a fairly big garment industry but it was predominantly in two types of buildings: repurposed early 1900s warehouses in the Exchange District, and then it moved on to low slung, single storey industrial park buildings that dated back to the 1960s.

There is nothing like those tall postwar-era sewing factories... definitely gives a sense of the huge scale of that industry in Montreal. Almost Hong Kong like... that is the city I most associate with tall, vertical industrial buildings.

[Rico Rommheim]

Originally Posted by esquire

That is super fascinating. Never been to that part of Montreal but it is really interesting looking.

Winnipeg historically had a fairly big garment industry but it was predominantly in two types of buildings: repurposed early 1900s warehouses in the Exchange District, and then it moved on to low slung, single storey industrial park buildings that dated back to the 1960s.

There is nothing like those tall postwar-era sewing factories... definitely gives a sense of the huge scale of that industry in Montreal. Almost Hong Kong like... that is the city I most associate with tall, vertical industrial buildings.

What's interesting is that the garment buildings hub in the Mile-End hub isn't even the biggest one in the city. 5km north there's the Chabanel district. It's scale is so out of whack with the surrounding neighbourhood and the buildings' floorplates themselves are so huge that it's proving difficult to re-adapt into the urban fabric. It doesn't help that it is located at the north-end of the city, far away (for now) from the hispter hive of the mile-end, the downtown core or even a metro station, for that matter.


Screen Shot 2020-10-22 at 3.11.21 PM by Foofoo MacShoe, on Flickr

There's a wikipedia page of Chabanel garment district actually: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Garmen...rict,_Montreal

[shappy]

Originally Posted by Rico Rommheim

I was wondering if any other city in Canada has an equivalent of that type of urban fabric?

Do you mean warehouses from that era or are you referring to niwell's link with residential across the street... or more generally just a canyon-type street of warehouses?

[Rico Rommheim]

Originally Posted by shappy

Do you mean warehouses from that era or are you referring to niwell's link with residential across the street... or more generally just a canyon-type street of warehouses?

Curious to know if Toronto or Vancouver have those huge industrial box districts like Mile-End or Chabanel. My guess is that Toronto would have some too.

[Martin Mtl]

The radical revitalisation of the Mile-End ex-garmant district began with Ubisoft, but is now more than a tech and video games production center; it is also a hub for film, tv and commercial production firms, some of the biggest in the city. Attraction Image office occupies a whole floor in one building on De Gaspé and it looks amazing. The whole sector is brimming with artists and "creatives", which contributed a lot to the "hipster" vibe in the Mile-End.

[hipster duck]

Originally Posted by Rico Rommheim

Curious to know if Toronto or Vancouver have those huge industrial box districts like Mile-End or Chabanel. My guess is that Toronto would have some too.

The old fashion district in Toronto centred around Spadina south of Queen became the Entertainment district during deindustrialization and is now firmly within downtown. A lot of tech jobs, similar to Montreal's warehouse area.

Liberty Village has some hefty old pre-war warehouses. My favourite is the Canada Carpet Manufacturing Warehouse.

There are a few other areas, but, generally nothing like blocks of those Chabanel street monsters.

[hipster duck]

The Vancouver neighbourhood of blocks of multi-storey street-facing warehouses is, of course, Yaletown.

[Martin Mtl]

Originally Posted by hipster duck

The old fashion district in Toronto centred around Spadina south of Queen became the Entertainment district during deindustrialization and is now firmly within downtown. A lot of tech jobs, similar to Montreal's warehouse area.

Liberty Village has some hefty old pre-war warehouses. My favourite is the Canada Carpet Manufacturing Warehouse.

There are a few other areas, but, generally nothing like blocks of those Chabanel street monsters.

That Canada carpet building is a beauty.

[niwell]

Carlaw Ave in the East End has an interesting warehouse strip too: https://goo.gl/maps/9rNN9MzPbVQW99VZ9

And interestingly enough, Toronto's Ubisoft offices aren't all that dissimilar to those in Montreal: https://goo.gl/maps/4nhegotVXF4xXPLs7

Despite having warehouse areas, I don't really think Toronto has anything exactly comparable to the Mile End / Chabanel examples. In that they seem largely comprised of massive warehouse structures built post-war in an intentional effort to concentrate the garment industry. Toronto has a few similar structures here and there but generally few "modern" large floorplate warehouse buildings. These ones at King and Bathurst are the closest I can think of offhand: https://goo.gl/maps/GzUFjJdFdZVKer2Z9

[rousseau]

Originally Posted by niwell

Carlaw Ave in the East End has an interesting warehouse strip too: https://goo.gl/maps/9rNN9MzPbVQW99VZ9

I really like what's happening on Carlaw, and that's where the coolest bike repair shop of all time is located: Biseagal (http://www.biseagal.com/). I've been there twice over the years to have work done on steel frames. Malcolm is a mensch.

[shappy]

The warehouse area of Yaletown is a great part of Vancouver. I imagine Vancouver's LES is also a former warehouse area. And then of course, Winnipeg's Exchange, Halifax's Historic Properties and Old Montreal's warehouse sections are also notable in Canada. Any others?

There are a few self-contained Victorian warehouse districts in Toronto that are pretty special. Similar to Historic Properties in Halifax. Very adaptable to interesting uses like the Distillery District and Brickworks. Smaller ones like the area around Liberty Village's Carpet factory, Berkeley Castle and the Canadian Opera Company have interesting courtyards and spaces.

[zahav]

Richards St. in Van has a very condo canyon, bviously very different from office ones, but it's essentially wall to wall condos for a really long stretch. This is just a portion, but a good Vancouver photographer should capture some shots
https://goo.gl/maps/fKUxXSojB5LeSwzn8

Davie St. is starting to develop a bit of one too with the newest highrises, this image is old and crap streetview, but it's there

https://goo.gl/maps/HdgBwhFSPK37Z5Ea7

[esquire]

Originally Posted by Rico Rommheim

What's interesting is that the garment buildings hub in the Mile-End hub isn't even the biggest one in the city. 5km north there's the Chabanel district. It's scale is so out of whack with the surrounding neighbourhood and the buildings' floorplates themselves are so huge that it's proving difficult to re-adapt into the urban fabric. It doesn't help that it is located at the north-end of the city, far away (for now) from the hispter hive of the mile-end, the downtown core or even a metro station, for that matter.

Fascinating stuff, I wonder how that all ended up there? It's such an unusual location for such a big collection of fairly modern giant light industrial buildings, especially ones that are cheek by jowl with residential streets.

It will be interesting to see how that area evolves given the circumstances that you mentioned.

[Acajack]

Originally Posted by Rico Rommheim

What's interesting is that the garment buildings hub in the Mile-End hub isn't even the biggest one in the city. 5km north there's the Chabanel district. It's scale is so out of whack with the surrounding neighbourhood and the buildings' floorplates themselves are so huge that it's proving difficult to re-adapt into the urban fabric. It doesn't help that it is located at the north-end of the city, far away (for now) from the hispter hive of the mile-end, the downtown core or even a metro station, for that matter.


Screen Shot 2020-10-22 at 3.11.21 PM by Foofoo MacShoe, on Flickr

There's a wikipedia page of Chabanel garment district actually: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Garmen...rict,_Montreal

Garment District or Cité de la Mode

Everyone I know just calls it the Quartier de la Guénille (Rag District).