MONTREAL: EVOLUTION THROUGH ARCHITECTURE AND URBANISM

Students Name

Class

Date
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I chose Pointe-St Charles as the neighborhood I would like to explore in these exams.

Pointe-St Charles is located southwest of Montreal. Its borders consist highway 20, Lawrence

River, Lachine canal, and Bonaventure expressway. The population of the neighborhood is the

francophone population1. It is locally referred to as the Point. The Point has working-class areas,

housing units, and recycled industrial buildings transformed into business incubators, lofts, and

condos. The communities around it continue to be proactive in eradicating poverty to improve

living conditions.

Picture 1: Map of Pointe-St-Charles neighborhood features

I would like to explore the three urban objects: Victoria Bridge, Parc enterprises, de la

Pointe-Saint-Charles, and Canal Lachine Park across Canada Malting Silos. The victoria bridge

enables movement to and from Pointe -St- Charles, making the area more accessible. Besides, it

makes it easy for the tourist to access Pointe-St-Charles. Parc enterprises de la Pointe-Saint-

Charles is a business park, which was initially a dumpsite. It was later developed into a park, but

it has been developed into a business region over time. The canal Lachine was used for industrial
1
. Steinberg, Tanya. "Place, Community and Memory in Postindustrial Pointe-Saint-

Charles." PhD diss., Concordia University, 2019.

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purposes. Trees have made it up a beautiful park, attracting tourists because it is a serene park to

have picnics, boat riding, and bike riding. A building has a mural, which has become a

centerpiece of art after the artist indicated that the concept was developed to emulate each

visitor’s experience when they visited the Canal. Pointe-St-Charles is a neighborhood that has

had many urban changes over the years to attract new businesses and tourists.

The Point was once a marshy riverside terrain but later became industrialized with the

Lachine Canal construction. Being the second oldest neighborhood in Montreal, it had attracted

factories, railways, and mills. The high number of laborers from the area contributed to the

growth of residential places. The closure of the Canal took significantly affected businesses that

had evolved. People moved away to look for jobs in other regions. This sudden closure of the

Canal had an enormous effect on the social, economic, and environmental factors. At the same

time, The Point has a remarkable history of community activism 2. Citizens mobilized in

response to deindustrialization, creating famous education institutions and improving food access

and housing while building their health facilities.

The Victoria Bridge was built because it was difficult to cross St Lawrence River during

the winter season. It was easier to cross using the boats or carts during summer, but it was

difficult during spring and fall because of the freezing and thawing. The site for the bridge was

selected to facilitate easy passage across the river. The original deck was shipped from England

as it was a long structural metal tube. The bridge enables a railroad to pass on it across the river.3

2
. Vaughan, Kathleen, Emanuelle Dufour, and Cynthia Hammond. "The Art of the Right

to the City: Interdisciplinary Teaching and Learning in Pointe-St-Charles." Learning

Landscapes 10, no. 1 (2016): 387-418.

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The bridge has been developed over time to carry a rail and two passageways for vehicles. This

change has made transportation and urbanization grow for the pointe-St-Charles neighborhood.

Picture 2: Victoria Bridge Montreal

Parc d’entreprises de la Pointe-Saint-Charles is now a business park was a lot of

businesses have started and grown over time. The place was developed from a dumpsite.

Buildings have been built and renovated to make it look better than it was. The creation of

commercialized structures has made the place undergo architectural evolution for urbanization.

3
. Churcher, Colin. "Significant Dates in Canadian Railway History." Colin Churcher’s

Railway Pages (2014).
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Picture 3: Parc d’entreprises de la Pointe-Saint-Charles

The Lachine Canal was known as a Canadian National Historic Site because of its three

primary functions: waterway, provider of hydraulic power, and industrial aqueduct. These

characteristics enabled it to become Canada’s major manufacturing center from the middle of the

19th century to the next century4. The waterway and the energy it provided attracted the essential

industries in Montreal and Canada as it also facilitated interior navigation. After it was closed, it

was transformed to a tourist attraction site, making it possible for it to have economic value. The

evolution of the Canal to a park has been impeccable over the years. There has cropped up

shopping malls, restaurants, and shops that have contributed to the Point’s economy with the

tourist around. The Lachine Canal’s rich industrial legacy shines through its restored red-brick

factories that are significantly historical.

4
. Desloges, Yvon. "Behind the Scene of the Lachine Canal Landscape." IA. The Journal of

the Society for Industrial Archeology 29, no. 1 (2003): 7-20. Accessed April 13, 2021.

http://www.jstor.org/stable/40968609
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Picture 4: The Lachine Canal

Source: Google

Pointe-St-Charles has gone through a lot of evolution in terms of architectural building.

Urbanization enabled the region to attract new businesses that would transform the neighborhood

because of the business parks and tourism. Besides, the abandoned factories have been converted

to residential and tourist accommodations. Historical structures, such a Mason Saint Gabriel,

were built because of the many tourists visiting the neighborhood. The locals have shown

solidarity in ensuring they develop the community to a better place through commercialization

and urbanization.
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Bibliography

Churcher, Colin. “Significant Dates in Canadian Railway History.” Colin Churcher’s Railway

Pages (2014).

Desloges, Yvon. “Behind the Scene of the Lachine Canal Landscape.” IA. The Journal of the Society

for Industrial Archeology 29, no. 1 (2003): 7-20. Accessed April 13, 2021.

http://www.jstor.org/stable/40968609.

Hammond, Cynthia Imogen. “The Keystone of the Neighborhood: Gender, Collective Action,

and Working-Class Heritage Strategy in Pointe-Saint-Charles, Montreal.” Journal of

Canadian Studies 52, no. 1 (2018): 108-148.

Steinberg, Tanya. “Place, Community and Memory in Postindustrial Pointe-Saint-Charles.” PhD

diss., Concordia University, 2019.

Vaughan, Kathleen, Emanuelle Dufour, and Cynthia Hammond. “The Art of the Right to the

City: Interdisciplinary Teaching and Learning in Pointe-St-Charles.” LEARNing

Landscapes 10, no. 1 (2016): 387-418.

.
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