Showing posts with label neighborhoods. Show all posts
Showing posts with label neighborhoods. Show all posts

Monday, August 8, 2011

A Page from Montreal History


Original handwritten deed dating  from 1891 for the sale of what is now 276 May St., Verdun.




Sometimes I get to brush up against history as I go about my business as a real estate agent.  The vendor of the property at 276 May St., Verdun has a stack of deeds going all the way back to when the land was originally subdivided into building lots back in 1891.

The spidery cursive has faded somewhat over the last 110 years, but it is still legible.  If you read all the deeds you get a sense of the evolution of a neighborhood, because each deed has the name and occupation of both the seller and the buyer.  This property passed through the hands of a career military man  to a mechanical superintendant and later from shopkeeper to a mechanic and from him to a labourer and then to a nurse's aide and so on and so on.

What I like about this particular deed is that many of the names, probably obscure in their time, now have deep roots and resonance in Verdun and neighboring Point St. Charles. I quote:


On This Sixth day of March, one thousand eight hundred and ninety one.  Before the undersigned Public Notary for the Province of Quebec, in the Dominion of Canada, residing in the City of Montreal Came and Appeared John Samuel Knox of Rozel, Ryde, Isle of Wight, England a Lieutenant-Colonel in Her Majesty's service, in his capacity as sole Executor of and universal legatee under the Last Will and Testament of the late Robert Knox of Rushbrooke, near Coleraine, in Ireland.
 Knox, Rozel, Ryde and Coleraine are all names of nearby streets in the Point.   Mr. Knox sold the land to an Edward May of New Brunswick.  In turn Mr. May gave his name to the street on which he built a string of stout and respectable stone and brick houses.  The house I'm selling is near the corner of May and Rushbrooke.

The things you can learn if you just stop to read the fine print.

By the way,  the original deed of sale specifies that the buyer cannot build a slaughterhouse, tannery or soapworks on the premises. I guess NIMBYism - Not In My Back Yard - is not a 20th cerntury invention.















Monday, November 15, 2010

A Little House in Little Portugal

4255 Hôtel-de-Ville. Asking price $439,000

I've just hammered the sign in front of this sweet little cottage on Hôtel-de-Ville Ave. north of Rachel St in the heart of Little Portugal.

There's so much to like about life in this part of the Plateau. Location, for one.The bright lights of St. Laurent are four blocks west. The brighter, possibly more elegant lights of St. Denis are four blocks east. Duluth St. with its BYOB restos is a block south and Mont Royal Ave in all its hemp-covered, tam-tam jamming glory, is two blocks north.

You can stand at the corner of HdeV and Rachel and gaze upon the mountain. It's prime dog-walking, bike-riding, cross-country skiing and jogging territory. Skating on the serpentine lake at Parc Lafontaine is another option in winter.

All this, and more can be yours for the price of $439,000. What does that get you? It gets you a house lovingly renovated from roof-top to foundation. The current owner bought a wreck in 2006 and spent the next few years making things right.

People go nuts for decor, but let me tell you, there's nothing more exciting than a Plateau house with a waterproof membrane and functioning  French drain. I kid you not. He also did the roof and installed  energy-efficient windows and doors.  He had the place energy audited after the renos were complete and got a clean bill of health. This house is as energy efficient as a new Novoclimat certified home. Not too shabby, considering it was built in 1885.

This is a two-bedroom house with a bright living room, as well as a roomy and functional kitchen with new Shaker style cabinets. There's bedroom or office off the kitchen, plus a powder room with washer/dryer hook-up. Access to the large fenced yard is through the kitchen.

The upstairs is essentially loft style, with the large master bedroom at the front and a second open room that could be closed to create another bedroom. There's a balcony off the back. The upstairs bathroom is large and fully renovated.

The seller installed new plumbing and wiring. He's a sound engineer who used the downstairs for recording and basically lived upstairs. He insulated and soundproofed the building to a fare-theee-well so that the neighbors would never be bothered by the strains of late-night thrash metal.
In all, there's 1,050 square feet of living space. It would be the perfect size for a couple or single person working at home.  Do you know anyone looking for a Plateau pied à terre? Have them give me a call.

This one won't last long. Here's the listing.

Living room




Kitchen
Master bedroom

Saturday, November 13, 2010

And It's Name Shall Be Mile Ex, Because Philtrum is Already Taken

Photo of Le Pick Up, shamelessly stolen from La Presse.
The space between the nose and the lip is called a philtrum. The space between Mile End and Park Ex is called Mile Ex, according to La Presse.
Wasn't so long ago that we didn't call it anything. It was a no-man's land of not quite Mile End and not quite Park Extension.
That was before people began buying up the working-class duplexes and triplexes tucked among the area's factories and warehouses. Now it is a happening part of the city with lots of artists, architects and young families setting down roots in the 'hood. Those cheap lofts and industrial spaces afford the luxury of space, if you're looking for a place to live and work.
It makes perfect sense. The location is quite central - not far from Jean Talon market, the bright lights of Park Ave. and the de Castelnau metro station not to mention the 80 bus rocketing  straight downtown. There are neighborhood playgrounds, easy access to Jarry Park and very little through traffic.

One of the buzziest of Montreal's little neighborhood eateries in located smack-dab in the heart of Mile Ex. Check out Depanneur Le Pick-Up next time you're looking for a quick and quality nosh. It's an art space/dep and neighborhood joint where meatpackers (that's not a euphemism) and scenesters rub elbows over fair-trade coffee an big ol' sangwiches.

Wednesday, August 11, 2010

The Gazette's Green Life blog has a story about a couple of gardeners in St. Henri who turned what had been a garbage-strewn lot in their neighborhood into a vibrant and verdant urban oasis.
You can read it here.
These green-thumbed activists are part of a growing guerrilla gardening movement taking rootaround the world. The idea is to make blighted corners of the cityscape whole again by sowing seeds, planting flowers, herbs and the like.
The St. Henri lot had been abandoned for many years when locals decided to clean it up. The owner seemed to be okay with this, right up until they posted a sign inscribed Parc Jardin Communautaire Delinelle. As we used to say in my feminist student group back in the day, to name it is to claim it. He doesn't mind them messing in his vacant lot, as long as everyone is clear on who owns it.
A similar guerrilla garden was started in a tucked away corner of Point St. Charles about 15 years ago. Residents of Sebastopol and Congregation Sts. adopted a weedy little patchy at the end of their block and planted flowers under the shade of the weedy Manitoba maples. All was well, until the city decided to sell the lot for development.
The folks got together and raised a fuss, managing to catch the ear of Mayor Pierre Bourque. Bourque, as you may recall, used to run Montreal's Botanical Garden and has a big soft spot for things horticultural. The garden was saved. The city ceded the plot of land to the good people of the Point. The garden is still there, the black-eyed susans, sedum and echinacea more lush and lovely than ever. In fact, I took the picture above there today.

You can find out more by visiting the Guerrilla Gardening website. Check out their recipe for making seed bombs.

Friday, July 24, 2009

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.

Saturday, July 4, 2009

Sunday Morning on Wellington St.




A mismatched assortment of chairs appeared on the walkway in front of this Wellington St. church a few weeks ago. At first, I thought they were a barricade to keep pedestrians from stepping in wet cement. Apparently not. The church's owner, who lives on the premises, set them up to give transit users a place to perch while waiting for the bus.
An interesting side note. The purse on the high stool remained there for a few days before eventually disappearing.

Tuesday, June 30, 2009

L'autre Montréal


National Georgraphic Society has partnered with Heritage Montreal, Les Amis de la Montagne and other local players to devise a different kind of tourism guide to our fair city.
The so-called MapGuide, focuses on geotourism, which is described as tourism "that sustains or enhances the geographical character of a place -- its environment, culture, aesthetics, heritage and the well-being of its residents."
You can download a PDF copy of the guide here
I love that it includes everything from the city's pretties back lanes to La Binerie Mont-Royal, home of authentic Quebec grub like ragoût de pattes et boulettes and pouding chômeur to Parc des Rapides, La Salle's beautiful park on the edge of the whitewater rapids.
This is the Montreal I want visitors to see. Heck, this is the Montreal I want to see during my staycation this summer.
Speaking of Montreal tourism, check out this old tourist poster that I grabbed off a web site somewhere. I think it's from the 1950s. For the life of me, I can't find the web site to get a larger image. Too bad.

Sunday, June 21, 2009

The Secret World of Point St. Charles


Living in the Point means being engaged with your neighbors, whether you like it or not. Houses are generally built close to the property line, putting front steps and even doorways right on the sidewalk.
But there's a secret world in the Point. Behind those close-set houses you'll often find huge yards, sometimes wild, sometimes beautifully landscaped, invariably full of mature trees that do a lot to gentle the urban landscape.
Above is a picture taken from the balcony of a client's newly acquired condo in the Point. He fell for the architecture of the building, the high ceilings and the spacious rooms. The balcony and the tranquility of the neighboring yards are a bonus. I love this view.

Monday, June 15, 2009

In Verdun We Do Summer Right



This house at the corner of Desmarchais Blvd. and Wellington St. always has the most beautiful flower baskets.

What $180,000 to $190,000 Can Get You




At least 280 properties have sold since the beginning of 2009 for between $180,000 and $190,000 in greater Montreal. Included in that number are at least 67 single-family homes.
That should be good news to anyone who thinks that housing prices have risen beyond reach. Know hope! There are still plenty of affordable homes to be had, especially if you are willing to be something of an adventurer and take up residence outside your comfort zone. Yes, my Plateau hipsters, I'm talking to you!

The three properties posted here all sold for between $180k and $190k this year. They are all located in central neighborhoods and offer three different ownership possibilities.

The bottom photo features a duplex on Dumas St. in Ville Emard, located within walking distance of the Monk métro stop and near Ignace-Bourget Park, home to an awwwwwesome tobogganing hill.
The duplex features two two-bedroom apartments, each rented at $500 a month. The listing mentioned the possibility of quick owner occupancy. By paying 5 per cent down and using the rent from the other unit, a buyer could in theory reduce the monthly mortgage payment to about $500 a month.

The middle photo shows an upper undivided condo on St. Vallier St. in lovely Petite Patrie.
(I've been enchanted by St. Vallier St. ever since first hearing the Beau Dommage song Tous les Palmiers. It's about saying goodbye to sunny tropical climes for the joy of Montreal in early spring. "Adieu, adieu pays des oranges/ J'm'en vais aider mon frère qui déménage." The chorus goes "Soixante dix-sept soixante St-Vallier, Montréal.)
I digress.
The building is held in undivided co-ownership, which means that rather than buying a unit, the buyer acquires a fraction of the total building. Undivided properties generally sell for less than comparable divided properties. The upside is that they have lower school and municipal taxes. The downside is that buyers generally have to put at least a 20 per cent deposit when purchasing. This upgraded upper features two bedrooms and a balcony, plus a large storage area in the basement. The Beaubien métro is close by, as are St. Denis and Beaubien Sts., Little Italy and the Jean-Talon market.

The top photo features a Montreal shoebox-style bungalow in eastern Ville-Marie. In fact, it's so far east I'm not sure why it isn't considered Hochelaga-Maisonneuve, or HoMa, as the cool kids are calling it these days.
This 1,000-square-foot home has three closed bedrooms, as well as a living room and dining. The kitchen has a skylight and there are patio doors leading to an enclosed backyard. The garden has a pear tree, an apple tree and a cherry tree, as well as three kinds of grape vines. There's a fireplace in the living room and many upgrades including thermal windows, copper plumbing and a new hot water tank. The house is within five minutes of Frontenac métro.

These are just three of the nearly 300 properties that sold for between $180,000 and $190,000 so far this year. There are plenty of others to choose from in places like Rivière des Prairies, Pierrefonds and Mercier. If you're thinking of buying and affordability is on your mind, looking outside the hottest neighborhoods is a good option. You won't be alone. In its last quarterly market update, The Greater Montreal Real Estate Board reported that prices across the region rose 2 per cent between January and April. HoMa was one neighborhood that beat the Montreal average - prices there rose by 17 per cent, compared to the same quarter last year. Bargain-conscious buyers are flocking there. The same can be said for the Southwest borough, where prices are up a minimum of 37 per cent and as much as 55 per cent, depending of property type, over the last five years.

Tuesday, June 9, 2009

Urban Beauty is in the Eye of the Beholder


New York City inaugurated a new park 30 feet above street level today. The High Line is a nine-block stretch of abandoned elevated rail track running through Manhattan's west side.
The rail line carried cattle to the city's meat packing plants from the 1930s to the 1980s. Two local residents made it their business to champion the weed-choked, graffiti-sprayed eyesore when others wanted it demolished and the area redeveloped. Against long odds, and the wishes of the Guiliani government, they managed to find sponsors and gain public support for an overhead park.
The first stretch of the High Line, awash in wildflowers and native plants, benches, walkways and vantage points offering views of the city, Statue of Liberty and Hudson River, opened at 7 a.m..

A second phase is scheduled to open next year. A third phase is under discussion.
I'll think of the High Line every time I hear some snob with a pricey condo on the Old Montreal waterfront whining about how the Silo # 2 blocks their view of the river. If nothing else, the overhead park offers proof positive that ugly has a beauty all its own.

Tuesday, April 14, 2009

Jane's Walk Comes To Montreal


The Urban Ecology Centre is organizing a number of Montreal neighborhood walks on May 2 and 3 as part of the grassroots Jane's Walk initiative, named in honor of urbanist and activist Jane Jacobs.
Jacobs, the author of The Death and Life of Great American Cities, was a passionate advocate for human scale in urban planning. She believed that the bustle of urban life was best observed at sidewalk level and preached that the only way to understand a city was by walking it. She also believed that cities were for people, not cars. That made her something of a crazy prophet when she landed in Toronto from New York in 1968.
Jane's Walk originated in Toronto in 2007, a year after Jacobs died at age 89. The walks have spread to 40 cities and counting. This is the first year Montreal is participating. So far, rambles through Outremont, Villeray, Shaughnessy Village and the Plateau are scheduled. Keep an eye on the web site, other walks might be added. Of course, if you'd like to organize and lead a walk yourself, the Urban Ecology Centre would be glad to hear from you.

UPDATE - They've added a whole bunch more walks since yesterday. Keep checking in!