Just Listed! Location, location, location.

Looking for an oasis in the middle of the Plateau action? Look no further.

Amy Barratt and I have just listed a 2-bedroom, 2-bath, 2-level condo in Chateau Esplanade, the impressive tan brick complex at 4433 de l'Esplanade, just south of Mont-Royal Ave.

The Chateau is made up of a number of  connected three-storey buildings, set around landscaped coutryards. They are protected heritage buildings.

The unit we have for sale is a coolly contemporary condo, with a large open living and dining room with fireplace, master bedroom, kitchen; laundry and bathroom on the main (1st floor). Downstairs, there is a second generously proportioned bedroom, an office corner with library, second bathroom and storage.

The asking price is $379,000.

This could be an ideal set up for a first-time buyer who wants to take in a roommate, university students, or a family with a teenager. Because of the very practical division of space everyone can have privacy.

The unit has undergone several smart renos in recent years, including new hardwood floors in the living and dining room. The laundry and storage area were reworked to impove functionality and dressed up with custom-made floor-to-celing sliding doors.

The bathroom has been entirely renovated. In the kitchen, a quartz  counter with a glass tile backsplash, undermounted sink and high-end faucet were installed. The property is being sold with the refrigerator, dishwasher and stove included.

 There is so much to like about the area. First, the building faces Jeanne-Mance Park and all that the city has to offer. Pick-up soccer in the park, a kids' wading pool and playground and the gateway to Mount Royal, for starters.

Then there's everything else. There's grocery shopping at the corner of St. Urban and Mont Royal Ave. The shops and restos on St. Laurent Blvd. are steps away. Park Ave is nearby and the funky boutiques and metro stop are a short walk away on Mont Royal.

There's a Bixi stand on the corner and at least 4 bus routes - the 11, 57, 55, 80 and 129 - are all within steps of your door.

The Chateau Esplanade is a well managed building with an involved board of directors made up of building residents, as well as a professional management company. In the last two years, owners voted to repoint the brick on the building's main facade and also undertook a large project to reinforce the building's stone foundation by pouring 100 linear feet of concrete. These projects have been paid for. The roof was redone in the last six years. There are no other major repair or renovation projects on the horizon.

Have a taste for a condo that combines the best of heritage architecture and contemporary design?  Come have a look at our listing. Check it out at Centris.ca by punching in MLS #8750675.

Montreal Heritage Home Tour - We're In!

Tomorrow kicks off Montreal's annual Architectural Heritage campaign celebrating  the best of the city's architecture.
The line of activities includes lectures, museum exhibits, as well as walking and bus tours exploring the city's many way cool neighborhoods. If I could, I'd do the walking tour of the Point tomorrow. Alas, it conflicts with my sprog's soccer practice and soccer practice wins.
The good news is that my listing at 276 May St., Verdun has been selected by the jury for this year's heritage tour. 276 May is one of the oldest homes in Verdun. We have deeds going back to 1891, when the land was sold to a Mr. May. He built his house in 1895.
Too bad that in the late 1950s some urban planning fool decided it would be a good idea to build the elevated approach to the Champlain Bridge about 100 feet from the building's front stoop. Here's the way I look at it, 276 May was  there 70 years before they built the bridge and it will be there 100 years after the bridge is scrapped. It was built to last.
It has also been lovingly restored and updated by my client. I don't feel the least bit self-conscious in proclaiming it one the prettiest houses in Verdun. Hell, it is one of the prettiest houses in Montreal.
We've printed enlarged images of some of the original deeds to show during the open house visit from 1-4 p.m. on Sunday, Oct. 2 and again on Oct. 9. We're expecting a big turnout. Bring your cheque book in case you want to make an offer. At $339,000 it is verrrry nicely priced.
You can check out the other activities on between October 1 and Oct. 13 here,

Imagine Montreal Without Old Montreal or Mount Royal Park

Happily, we don't have to entertain such nightmare scenarios, thanks in large part to visionary architect Sandy van Ginkel.
There was a time in Montreal when the powers that be in city hall and development circles saw the cobbled streets of Old Montreal as a slum ripe for urban renewal. In the early 1960s, a plan to build an expressway through the heart of the old city was formulated. Van Ginkel is credited with persuading the city's first urban planning director, Claude Robillard, of the cultural and historical value of Old Montreal.(Duh!) The Ville Marie Expressway was dug a few blocks north and Old Montreal was saved.
It wasn't his only gift to the city. He worked on the master plan for Expo 67 and saw promise in a young architecture student named Moshe Safdie. With van Ginkel's help, Safdie went on to design Habitat 67. He opposed development on Mount Royal. His other accomplishments included designing new towns in Sweden and the Netherlands after World War II and a hydrogen-powered bus used in the city of Vail. Did I mention he was also a member of the Dutch Resistance during the war?
Van Ginkel died on July 5 at the age of 89. The Globe and Mail has a nice obituary here. Canadian Architect weighs in here.

Thinking Inside the MuvBox

If you are a semi-regular reader of this blog you might suspect that I have a thing for compact homes. It has a little to do my belief in the need to reduce consumption of all kinds. A good way to start is by not building big-ass houses that needlessly consume precious resources.
An equal part of it, though, is a deeply ingrained love of treehouses and best of all childhood pleasures, the packing crate hideout.
So imagine how delighted I was to disover MuvBox, the shipping container snack bar designed by local entreprenneur Daniel Noiseux.
Noiseux has taken a basic reinforced steel maritime container and with a tweek here and there, created a turn-key resto. The sides flip down, to create a deck, tables are screwed in, counters folded out and, voìla, a working lobster shack is ready for action in about 90 seconds. Did I mention that it is solar powered?

Fantastic! If it wasn't pouring out, I'd head right down to the Quai des Eclusiers in the Old Port for a lobster roll and look around.
Fire-proof, earthquake-proof, rustproof, what other proof do we need that this is an idea whose time has come? The typical shipping container is six metres long, and 2.5 metres in width and height. When are we going to see locally designed MuvBox style homes take shape?
Seriously, when?
Montreal is justifiably proud to have been designated a UNESCO Design City, the first in North America. The designation recognizes the effort both public and private sector players put into promoting and conserving good design in la belle ville. Why not sponsor a contest in which architects and designers create a model shipping container community. Lord knows we've got vacant land in the city core.
After all, some could argue that Montreal took a step forward in world consciousness in 1967 when Moshe Safdie's Habitat 67 was unveiled during the World's Fair. Maybe its time we made another splash with another modular housing concept. Why not erect a demonstration MuvBox City at the foot of Peel St., near the Old Port?
Think of the fun cutting-age architects like YH2, LOEUF or Sid Lee Architecture could have with these durable and adaptable boxes?
London has already done this with Container City in the London Docklands, but Montreal, anoher port city with a surplus of old containers, could put its own spin on the idea.
For another take, check out this story on the U.S. firm that is building $8,000 container homes for the working poor in Juarez, Mexico.

Living Large, Not.

The Los Angeles Times has a nice photo essay today on the movement to build "tiny" houses. Author Mimi Zeiger has just published a tiny art book on the topic. The movement is sparked by the laudable impulse to reduce the size of our carbon footprint and to pare homes down to the essential. Waste not, want not and all that. The houses featured are daring, beautiful and fanciful. I, for one, love the idea of living in a little cabin on stilts among the primeval treetops. Must check whether my neighborhood is zoned for that. . .
They aren't all practical, however. Horden Cherry Lee Architects' 76-square-foot micro-compact aluminum cube might have two double beds, a kitchen, bath and dining table, but who would want to live in it? It is the residential equivalent of a Smart car, cute as all get out, but really useless when there are three of you needing to get from Point A to Point B in a hurry.(Good luck if you blow a tire on the highway, btw. Smart cars don't come equipped with spare tires.) Tiny, when this small, is a parlor game.
Funny how tiny becomes chic when rich people and their architects adopt it. Tiny houses are just plain "too small" when poor people live in them. I'm still waiting for architects to devise beautiful. compact and architecturally daring small homes for the masses. Now that would be revolutionary.
But enough of my gassing on. Take a look at the LA Times' photo gallery here.

Will Recession Create a Back-to-Basics Movement in Architecture?

Witold Rybczynski suggests it might. The renowned Montreal-born architect and thinker asserts that one casualty of the worldwide economic downturn might be what he terms architectural "instant icons".
He was the keynote speaker at the American Planning Association.
Once upon a not-so-long-ago, buildings were designed and built for the long haul. Think the Empire State Building, which at the time of construction was not considered a standout of skyscraper construction, according to Rybcynski. It gained that status over the decades, thanks to the people of New York.

"What makes icons isn't architects. It's really the public," Rybczynski said. "It's really the public deciding on its own, sometimes quickly and sometimes over a long period of time. ... It somehow captures the public's imagination."

That has shifted in recent decades as architects and their clients strove to create instant landmarks. Syndey's Opera House is an example of a signature building that instantly transformed the skyline. Frank Gehry's undulating Guggenheim in Bilbao, Spain is another.
But for every success, there are a equal or greater number of failures. He pointed to his hometown's extravagantly unsuccessful Olympic Stadium, The Big Owe, as one example of a "instant icon" that failed and failed big time.
In this report from his speech, Rybczynski seems to fault the Big Owe on practical grounds - uh, the friggin' retractable roof has never once worked - rather than aesthetic - it's fugly - grounds.
Rybczynski says that with money scarce, the pendulum may be swinging back. People will worry more about how a building works and less on how it looks. If that happens, it will be up to the public to decide which buildings are icons.

The Garbage Warrior

I missed the Colbert Report's recent interview with radical architect Michael Reynolds. Through the miracle of the internets you can watch it now.
Reynolds uses quote-unquote "garbage" to build self-sufficient, off-the-grid housing communities. Garbage like beer cans, water bottles and old tires.
This has put him on a collision course with the powers that be of the U.S. zoning and planning world but has made him a hero in places where people need safe, affordable places to live and where clean water and reliable sewage are not a given.
Reynolds is the subject of the documentary Garbage Warrior. You can watch the trailer here.
Watching him build houses with discarded water bottle "bricks" reminds me of Montreal architect Grant Genova, who converted an old lobster warehouse on Roy St. in the Plateau into a wildly original house/gallery and workshop. Genova set empty pop and wine bottles into the cement walls of his house to create beautiful honeycombed "stained glass windows."
To build the walls, he filled discarded plastic shopping bags with wet cement and stacked them, sandbaglike. As the cement hardened it took on the amorphous blobby shape of the bags. Once the cement dried, Genova tore the plastic bags away, leaving voluptuous and rounded walls. The pop bottle windows glowed like Chartres during midnight mass. Cool stuff.
Find out more about the documentary here