Located in Saint-Henri, the former Canada Malting plant is a major Montreal industrial heritage site dating back to 1905. Despite decades of abandonment and vandalism, it remains a striking landmark in the Sud-Ouest, particularly along the Lachine Canal National Historic Site.

Beyond its role in Montreal’s brewing history, it stands out for its battery of terra cotta silos, among the last examples of this patented system in North America, and, more recently, for a charming little pink house that mysteriously appeared and now crowns the whole structure.

Vacant since the 1990s, the complex has been the subject of numerous proposals by private and community developers promising to preserve and repurpose its heritage components, often with a mix of uses and public spaces linking the neighbourhood and the canal. We have had occasional contact with these developers. The community has long expressed its attachment to this industrial heritage complex, notably through the formation in 2013 of the collective À nous la Malting!

Yet today, La Presse reports that Canada Malting may be on the verge of emergency demolition. This decision would follow the conclusions of an engineering report commissioned by the owner at the borough’s request, as part of the review of a large residential project on the site.

We therefore commend the Sud-Ouest borough for requiring an independent second assessment to determine what demolition is actually needed before issuing the required permits. Any work of this kind must be supervised by qualified heritage professionals. We also call on municipal authorities to ensure that any project they approve preserves the significant components of this complex, such as some of the terra cotta silos and equipment bearing witness to the malting plant, and even the little pink house, and that it minimizes the architectural and social impact of the future project on the neighbourhood as well as on the Lachine Canal and its landscape, an emblem of the city.