Canada Post center

The Canada Post mailing center, which occupied an area of 1 million square feet in Little Burgundy/Griffintown, is gone and will be replaced by, you guessed it, condos. The massive mailing center had been there for decades but was termed obsolete a few years ago and was vacant for two years.

You can see how big the building was in the 3rd photo from google maps. The last image is the planned condo complex to replace it.

Abandoned garage - Griffintown

Nothing special about the garage except that it stood derelict for so many years (since the 1998 ice storm) that it became an unofficial Montreal landmark. When I went by there this year (see two last photos below) I was surprised that they finally removed it.

3 top photos are from the summer 2008; the 2 photos below are from the summer 2010

Abandoned building - Pointe-St-Charles

This building has been abandoned for some times. It's actually pretty cool. Unfortunately, it's in an area where there's really nothing but traffic going to Victoria bridge and surrounded by big faceless warehouses. It's not an inviting relaxing area to live in which leads me to believe that it might get demolished for another faceless warehouse.

Hopefully, they won't demolish it. I wouldn't even mind if they turn it into condos (gasp!) anything but demolishing it.

google maps

(photos taken with 35mm camera + fujifilm)

Alstom Before & After

ALSTOM building after the fire

The beautiful photo in the banner was taken before the fire. This part of the ALSTOM building was beautiful at night. For a factory, it actually sparkled. A really undiscovered gem of a place. Sadly, after the fire, the vivid colors are now gone. The 2nd photo was taken after the fire, spring/early summer of 2009. Windows were broken and though you don't see it in the photo, the place was a mess within the building beyond the windows.

A sorta magical place very people knew about but has vanished from the world. I'm glad I took some photos of it.

google maps

(photo taken with 35mm camera + fujifilm)

Alstom before the fire

ALSTOM factory before the fire

I took this photo in the summer of 2008. A few months later, the building was destroyed in a fire. Compare this photo with the one after the fire below. You can see a big chunk of it in the left side was destroyed in the process.

google maps

(photo taken with 35mm camera + fujifilm)

The ALSTOM factory

The Alstom plant is now closed and part if it have been basically abandoned. I took these photos in the summer of 2009. there was a major fire at the plant (which was used to store recycled material) and it destroyed a big chunk of the plant. I have photos of the plant I took in the summer of 2008 when it was in relatively good condition. I'll post them soon as a comparison. But to give you an idea, the photo in the banner above is from the ALSTOM plant before the fire.

The plant was originally designed to build trains and such. It has been partially abandoned for some time now.

The following photos were taken with a digital camera







ALSTOM factory seen from google maps. It is HUGE. You can't imagine how big it is. The part that burnt down is indicated by the red arrow. the yellow dot is where I was when I took the pictures and the yellow arrow indicates the point-of-view

google maps

Le Spectrum

Le Spectrum

legendary music venue in Montreal that saw almost every band play there for the past 40 years. It was demolished and it's gone as if it never existed.

Seville

The entire block near the old forum, which includes the old Seville movie theatre (photos below), has been a neglected area in downtown Montreal for the past 20 years. It's one of the most unsightly places in Montreal. There will be changes made soon (see article below) but the entire thing seems to be too little too late.

$100M development to put Seville back on the block

Link

photos courtesy of The Gazette

google maps

< demolition of st john the divine church

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Burning of 117 year old Franciscan church

I took these 3 photos on january 7, 2010. A month later, a five alarm fire burned the abandoned Franciscan church to the ground. The historical church, built 117 years ago, had been abandoned for several years. Like so many other old buildings in Montreal, there's a general sense of neglect with the city turning a blind eye on anything historical, perennially obsessed with turning everything into condos or destroying old buildings in lieu of condos. The burning of the Franciscan church is endemic of this attitude.

Below are photos I took of the burned down church on Friday February 12, 2010.

Franciscan Church in the media

Newspaper articles on the burning of the historical Franciscan church:

THE GAZETTE

Historic Montreal church burns to ground Link

Buyers were lined up for church property Link

LA PRESSE

Un incendie détruit une église de Montréal Link


photos: La Presse (first) and The Gazette (all others)

St John the Divine - Anglican church