Saturday, January 9, 2010

Well There Goes: 'er I mean, Here Comes the Neighbourhood

The Bonaventure Expressway that was so modern in it's day, even though it displaced many family's homes & many more profitable business's (including my oldmans)..expropriated land for the approaches to & exits from the Bonaventure Expressway, leading up to Montreal's Expo '67 .......Well now here's what they propose an artists conception of possible new buildings lining the old expressway route. Ahh all is well in the universe replaced by more Condos...........hahahahaha and office space,but most of Montreal's manufacturing has been long gone,at least the people who will choose to live in these new towers of concrete & glass,will be able to shop at a big box store,cause there's one closeby..........See All is Good.........hahahahahah..............Note in the very bottom center of the photo,the Farine Five Roses sign remains,.....(yea sure) that will be inexplicably missing admist the razing (why do they call it razing ? Use Andy Rooney voice when reading this part) "They don't Raise it,they Tear it Down"..........hahahahaha   but it was nice of them to add it to their artist conception of the 'new buildings ' route............here's the story as it appears in todays online Gazette:                                               ps: click on the photo to enalrge it.

MONTREAL – A relic of the concrete-centric 1960s, the elevated Bonaventure Expressway is a blight on Montreal's downtown.

It's a drab entry point for motorists arriving from the South Shore, a no man's land for pedestrians at ground level, and an unattractive zone for developers.

The Quartier Bonaventure proposal is supposed to change all that, even as it reduces the number of cars in downtown Montreal and improves public transit for tens of thousands of South Shore commuters crossing the Champlain Bridge by bus.

It would cost $260 million - $141 million to dismantle the highway and rebuild roads and $119 million for a new bus corridor on Dalhousie St. (up from the original $86-million price tag).

The plan is being praised for some elements.

Many agree that the highway should be razed, the area under the Canadian National Railway viaduct should be revived, and once-vibrant Griffintown - devastated by construction of the Bonaventure and the viaduct - is in desperate need of a makeover.

But critics say parts of the proposal are fatally flawed.

The plan, supported by Mayor Gérald Tremblay, is being put forward by the Société du Havre de Montréal (SHM), created and funded by the city of Montreal to develop the harbourfront. The SHM has spent $7 million on the Bonaventure plan, much of it on studies.

The Office de consultation publique de Montréal is to hold public hearings on the plan on Tuesday, Wednesday and Jan. 18.

Here's a look at what the developer and critics say about key aspects.

Changes to the Neighbourhood

1849-1861: The New City Gas Co. complex is built. The company, seen as a forerunner of Hydro-Québec, distributed gas throughout the city, allowing for the illumination of streets and buildings. Much of the original complex remains intact.

1875: The triangular Rodier Building is constructed at Notre Dame and Inspecteur Sts. It's now home to Baron Sports. Other buildings in the area date from the 1880s.

1930s-1940s: Canadian National builds a viaduct linking the

Victoria Bridge and Central Station, cutting Griffintown in two. For a time, CN uses the space under the viaduct as offices. In the 1970s, most windows were sealed; much of the space under the viaduct is now taken up by a self-storage facility.

1967: The Bonaventure Expressway is inaugurated in time for Expo 67. To make way for it, 200 buildings were razed in Griffintown and the Faubourg des Récollets neighbourhood.

2004: Construction starts on condo project at Lowney's chocolate factory on Inspecteur St. near William St. Lowney's made Cherry Blossoms in the red brick building. Several new condo buildings are later built on the site, with more now under construction.

2010-2011: Work is to be done on underground infrastructure and on widening Duke and Nazareth Sts.

2012-2013: The elevated highway is to be razed and the Dalhousie St. bus corridor put in place.

2015-2020: Studies are to be done on Phases 2 and 3 of the Quartier Bonaventure project, covering the riverside section of the Bonaventure between the Victoria and Champlain bridges, and the section between the Peel Basin and the Victoria Bridge/Brennan St.

11 comments:

Les F said...

some random useless information re: the Boanaventure Expressway etc etc:
Inauguration of the Bonaventure Expressway (April 21, 1967)
On April 21, 1967, seven days before Expo 67 opened, the Bonaventure
Expressway was officially opened by Guy Beaudet, Manager of the Port of
Montreal, and C.A. Boileau, Director of Public Works at the City of
Montreal, in the presence of representatives of the National Harbours
Board, the City of Montreal, the consulting engineers, the contractors
and a number of other people who had worked on the project.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Useless tidbit of info #2:
Bonaventure Expressway (1965, 1966)
The contract to build the first part of the Bonaventure Expressway was
awarded on August 6, 1965; the road was particularly useful while the
Expo 67 site was being built. Contracts for the second and third parts of
the expressway were awarded in February and April 1966 respectively
and the work was completed shortly before Expo 67.
----------------------------------------------have-------fun---------&-----remember---------verdun---------------------------

Les F said...

Bonaventure , Past,Present & Possible Future: Remember the Motto, it's all about the Condo
of course Condo is short for Do-Re-Mi $$$$ .but I have to admit Montreal's waterfront will look a lot better with it's new greenspace look,I'm not sure about the buildings,& I suscribe to the wait & see if it ever happens theory,Usually the developper has great dreams and great artist conceptions to get past the regulations (that means until they payoff the usual suspects at city hall,to approve their plan,then they never complete anything & seel the property that's now cleared the zoning hurtles.....

.. ... ... ....... HF&RV ps: As always I suggest using the 'Full Screen' mode for viewing the slide show,.but Hey it's your computer ,throw it out the window if you like.......lol

Les F said...

Hey Remember this fiasco,.the Bonaventure when it was first built had those great 'effect' lighting built into the sidewalls of the elevated Bonaventure,and noone Remembered that it sometimes Snows in Montreal,,,,,,,,,hahahahaha and the plows would come along and pile the snow up to the top of the sidewall of the highway & Voila NO LIGHTS..................Genius,.but it sure looked good in the Summertime at Night.
here's a link to the Gazette article back in '70 finally going to deal with the problem
http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=zIsyAAAAIBAJ&sjid=IbkFAAAAIBAJ&dq=bonaventure%20expressway&pg=6475%2C248316
..........Now at the Risk of appearing redundant,I will once again post this animation of the wonderful planning the City has for snow removal:
disclaimer: Any similarity between this animation & the real life Stupidity of most Municipal Governments planning is purely coincidental.................hahahahaha


HF&RV

Ron Chapdelaine said...

Just got wind of this site - www.vpike.com and, in view of the "changes to the neighbourhood" theme above, thought it was appropriate to mention it here. Using this site, I was able to see what my childhood residence in Verdun in the late 40's - late 60's looks like today. Perhaps some members are aware of this site but I think its' capabilities are pretty amazing and its pretty easy to navigate with the instructions. Should bring back a lot of old memories and is certainly not restricted to Verdun.

Ron

Les F said...

Thanks Ron , I'll check it out, always neat to find new sources of info..........Merci Bien
HF&RV

Update , I just checked out that site, & it is an alternate way of accessing Google 'street view' ,This is a feature that is neat, and the site Ron mentions makes it a one step way, jusy type in an address,select your internet speed, ^ your in Verdun pretty quick. Google figures they will have everywhere mapped out over the next few years, right now it's only certain major cities......
HF&RV
again Thanks for the feedback

pauline garneau said...


piches store



< http://wapedia.mobi/en/Goose_Village%2C_Montreal#1">



http://wapedia.mobi/en/Goose_Village%2C_Montreal#1.


Montreal expo67 – My family’s livelihood got wiped out of the city’s plans for expo 67 too. Piche’s grocery store that my father operated and his father before him. The place where my brother and I were born. The history that those six streets had and now it’s a parking lot. Go figure. By today’s standards it’s not to pretty but back then was it that bad or like the article reads done out of revenge.

Les F said...

Pony , here's most of those photo's I was talking about , I had forgotten they were also on a collage ,compilation on a Youtube Video,...... I thinbk we even have it under our Video section too...
but here it is:

HF&RV

Les F said...

In viewing the credits at the end of that montage, I see that the Point Site gets a credit they deserve & Ian Hebert as well,.and a few others ,but I had to laugh at the first credit being city of Montreal (those same Saints that were going to throw the photos out in the beginning,now that they got caught with their hand in the proverbial cookie jar, they unashamedly take a bow for credit.............lol
at least that's how I remember the story going ,when thes pics first appeared.......... HF&RV

Les F said...

Both, this video & the previous one posted do appear here in Our Video section, but knowing that not everyone checks through the video section or photo section, it's just as easy to post it here, & you can view it as a slide show, (I suggest Full Screen mode,but that's up to you)

Have Fun and Remember Verudn

pauline garneau said...

Wow Thanks Les

“He painted silver-haired Father Kearney in his torn cassock, small children fighting to hold the beloved priest's hand as he made his way through the streets of the Village.”

That statement is so true. Many times Father Kearney would stop to speak to my mother and she would ask him to bless Pauline because I guess I was full of the devil and I can remember kneeling down on the sidewalk and Father Kearney would bless me and it would last till the end of the day.
I’ve got only good memories of the Village with both my grandparents living there and being such a small community everyone knew everyone. I recognize all the names mention in the documentary. All good families that the Great City of Montreal destroyed a unique community.

It was sad to see it go. And then they demolished St Ann’s Church. That was hard to swallow.
So they say you can’t fight City Hall.

Bob Bisnett said...

A wonderful video Les. Thanks for posting it.

BobB