Héritage Montréal promoting the city's DNA for nearly 50 years!
Activities
April 23 to May 30, 2024
Guided tours designed by Montrealers for Montrealers
Immerse yourself in the heart of Montreal with Héritage Montréal’s city tours! Like an invitation to explore, they invite you to contemplate the remarkable architecture and rich heritage that enrich the street corners you pass every day. Book your unique experience now – tickets are limited!
Know more about our guided tours
By highlighting institutions, commercial complexes and cultural landmarks, this series of urban tours presents the evolution of downtown’s eastern sector from the 19th to the 21st century.
From the traces of Faubourg Saint-Laurent to modernist buildings to those built to entertain, Heritage Montreal’s three new visits invite you to discover the rich heritage of the heart of the city.
*Please note that these itineraries are the same as those presented in 2023
Event
APRIL 18 | 12 P.M. TO 1:15 P.M. 60 years ago, at the end of the great restoration projects for Europe’s war-torn heritage, experts shared their experiences and drew up an international charter – the Venice Charter – which Quebec recognized in 1992 as a reference in its cultural policy. In 2021, the Assemblée nationale du Québec amended its Cultural Heritage Act to include social value and authenticity, two concepts supported by international consensus.
In the face of current pressures and emergencies, how can international thinking guide our actions to protect, revitalize and enhance our built, urban and landscape heritage?
Organized by Fondation Héritage Montréal in collaboration with ICOMOS Canada, this virtual round table will bring together Mathieu Dormaels, President of ICOMOS Canada, and Gérard Beaudet, full professor at the Faculté de l’aménagement de l’Université de Montréal, and will be moderated by Dinu Bumbaru, from Fondation Héritage Montréal.
Round-table discussion in French, with a Q&A period in French and English.
Event
APRIL 24 | 12 P.M. TO 1:15 P.M. 2024 marks the 150th anniversary of our first major urban parks, Saint Helen’s Island and what’s now Lafontaine Park, built for the collective health of a working-class society. The recent pandemic revealed the appeal of these sanctuaries in an increasingly dense urban environment.
How can we preserve and increase the number of parks, while reconciling biodiversity protection with democratic and healthy access to nature and green spaces?
PANEL
INFORMATIONS
Boutique
The Next Generation Committee of Héritage Montréal is delighted to present you the 4th edition of the Affiche ton patrimoine campaign.
Specially created for Héritage Montréal, this poster, printed in 150 copies only, is part of our mission to raise awareness of Montreal’s heritage.
Video
Feb 7, 2024 – 12pm. Tourism has been in constant evolution since the 19th century. Tourists’ interest in experiencing Montreal’s cultural scene and its neighbourhoods has increased the city’s popularity as a destination.Faced with local issues like the housing crisis, and international ones like the impact of mass tourism, how can we protect the authenticity of our living spaces and local services?
Designation
This designation includes a number of particularly intact interiors. It responds to our request to the government in 2022 to recognize and protect this former bourgeois residence on Guy Street in downtown Montreal.
Built in 1859, it has retained great architectural integrity, both inside and out, and, most importantly, has been dedicated to women’s charity for over 130 years, a fact that the Minister also highlights in his announcement.
We hope that this designation will protect this heritage property from the real estate pressures that threaten it. And that it will help maintain its historic vocation of social service to the community, particularly women, as the needs remain.
Demolitions
The loss of two heritage buildings on Van Horne Avenue in Outremont is a stark reminder that demolition remains an issue in 2024.
These two modest residential buildings were among the oldest in Outremont, as shown on a 1907 atlas. They bear witness to the urbanization of the northern district, associated with the presence of the railway network laid out in the 19th century. They would have been at home in Saint-Henri, Lachine or Hochelaga. Adorned with a beautiful mansard and wood panelling, the one on the left was recognized as an architectural landmark by regulations.
The Outremont Town Hall informs us that in 2022, the owner obtained authorization for a real estate project that would integrate these houses, or at least their façades, thus avoiding a demolition procedure. Last summer, he had the rear and interior of the two houses demolished, leaving only their roofs and front walls, supported according to engineering plans required by the borough. Last week, following an unforeseen collapse, everything was razed to the ground for safety, with the agreement of the Ministry of Culture.
Unfortunate coincidence, vandalism or useful negligence? The arrondissement tells us that the developer’s permit has now lapsed, and that he will have to restart the procedure for a new project. The Outremont mayor’s office will also be doing a post-mortem on this situation, which has taken its toll on the city’s heritage.
Héritage Montréal has offered to contribute. These two heritage buildings must not have fallen in vain. Clearly, procedures and good intentions are not always enough. In addition to eliminating the vagueness surrounding the definition of “demolition”, we’ll have to come up with new ways of preventing these messes from happening again; for example, technical requirements, financial guarantees or compulsory skills.