Search the Community

Website: 1200redpath-cr.com [sTREETVIEW]https://maps.google.ca/maps?ll=45.50258,-73.583658&spn=0.006204,0.009516&cbll=45.502583,-73.583658&layer=c&panoid=S8SQW7jZasjLsujb3Tl06g&cbp=12,299.98,,0,-7.69&t=h&z=17[/sTREETVIEW]

The redpath mansion is crumbling, but residents and protectors of the city's heritage buildings balk at allowing a developer to raze the house and build anew LINDA GYULAI, The Gazette August 19, 2010 The remains of the Redpath Mansion on downtown du Musee Ave. have stood for 24 years as a vestige of what preservationists hoped was a bygone era of battles to save heritage in Montreal's Square Mile. However, a developer's renewed request to demolish what is left of the deteriorating structure at 3455-3457 du Musee to replace it with a 14-unit condo project is again sparking debate. The Ville Marie borough will hold a public hearing Tuesday on the project by Amos and Michael Sochaczevski, who are father and son, as well as on five other rezoning projects around the borough. The Queen Anne-style mansion was built in 1886 by architect Sir Andrew Taylor for the Redpath family, which founded the sugar-refining company of the same name, on a slope of Mount Royal overlooking Sherbrooke St. W. Demolition was started in 1986 when members of the Sochaczevski family bought it, but Heritage Montreal sought a court injunction to halt it. That left the facade and about 10 metres of the side walls standing. A city appeal board blocked a second request by the Sochaczevskis to demolish the remaining structure in February 2002. Now, the latest project calls for demolition and construction of a seven-storey building with 28 underground parking spaces. The top three floors would be of glass and recessed on all sides so it's not noticeable from the street, the owners say. The project, which passed first reading at a borough council meeting in July, would stand 25 metres high, while the zoning allows for 16 metres. However, Heritage Montreal says the plan violates an agreement it signed with the city and the Sochaczevskis in 1986 after the initial demolition was halted. The agreement called for any future project to preserve and integrate the remains of the original building. It also called for the project to respect the scale and design of the original building. "The Redpath project involves 24 years of trying to have discussions and it's being treated in a very shallow fashion," Heritage Montreal policy director Dinu Bumbaru said. However, the Sochaczevskis say the project is greatly reduced from an initial plan to build 11 storeys, and will breathe life into a derelict site. "Finally, after 20 years, we have a project that will put a development worthy of the Golden Square Mile on the site," Michael Sochaczevski said. "There is no building, there is only a ruined front." The plan is to use the foundation of the original building and reuse some elements, such as the stone, in the new project, he said. " We took a lot of things into account and we tried to please everybody and still have a reasonable project that makes common sense," Amos Sochaczevski said. Moreover, the site is surrounded by 11-, 17-and 20-storey towers on neighbouring streets, the Sochaczevskis say. However, Bumbaru countered that most of the towers date back to the 1970s when Montreal was a "frontier town" that lacked zoning rules. "Nobody here says: 'Don't develop,' " said Jean-Francois Sauve, who lives behind the mansion on de la Montagne St. "Just respect the agreements that were made and the (zoning) rules that are in place. Sauve says he's also concerned the project will block sunlight on his property and allow residents to peer into his garden and home. "It's quite surprising that we're right downtown and the city can't enforce simple zoning," he said. "It's actually quite alarming." Read more: http://www.montrealgazette.com/Mansion+again+target+demolition/3415685/story.html#ixzz0x4A1M8SA

Before he became a sugar manufacturer, John Redpath helped build the Rideau Canal Aug 19, 2007 04:30 AM Donna Jean Mackinnon Toronto Star John Redpath's name lives on thanks to his sugar company, but the role he played in building the Rideau Canal is barely a whisper in the annals of Canadian history. On the occasion of its 175th anniversary, the canal was named a World Heritage site earlier this summer by UNESCO, which called it "an engineering masterpiece" and a work of "human genius." Redpath was the most prominent of the four contractors for the canal. A leading Montreal builder, he had risen from humble origins: orphaned as a child in Scotland, he started out as a stonemason. About 10,000 men built the 201-kilometre canal, which starts in Ottawa below the Parliament Buildings and ends at Kingstone Mills, east of Kingston. Connecting wilderness rivers and streams at different levels, they had to cut through solid rock and endure many hardships, including malaria – which also afflicted Redpath. When completed in 1832, the canal had 19 kilometres of man-made runs and 47 locks. It was the biggest canal in North America at the time. Today it's used for pleasure boating. Redpath also constructed several of Montreal's most important buildings, including Notre Dame Cathedral. It still stands a testimony to his skill and reputation. In the 19th century, it was rare for a Catholic diocese to award a contract as lucrative and prestigious as a major cathedral to a strict Presbyterian. Redpath's climb to wealth and power rivals that of another Scottish immigrant, U.S. steel baron Andrew Carnegie – a name known to all Americans. Redpath was born near Edinburgh in 1776. At 13 he was apprenticed to stonemason John Drummond. Ten years later, Redpath immigrated to Lower Canada with three male companions. They arrived in Quebec City in the coldest year of the 19th century – it's remembered as the year without a summer. Food was scarce, and there wasn't any work. Penniless, the four Scots walked to Montreal – most of the way in bare feet, to save their shoes for job hunting. "John started digging toilets," says Richard Feltoe, curator of the Redpath museum and author of Redpath's biography, A Gentleman of Substance. "Then he invests his money into hiring men so he can do bigger jobs, and soon he has a little business. By the time John is 40, he is a multi-millionaire." In 1826, the supervising engineer of the Rideau Canal, Lt.-Col. John By of the Royal Engineers, contracted the work out to Redpath, who formed a partnership with three other builders. They pooled their money and later reaped profits from shipping on the canal. The Rideau was conceived as an alternative to the St. Lawrence River. After the War of 1812 against the Americans, the St. Lawrence, part of which borders the U.S., was considered dangerous and a threat to British security. REDPATH'S JOB was to build a dam at Jones Falls, which meant blocking an active river. "He had stones hand-hewn three miles away and transported them to the site on rollers, just like the Egyptians did for the pyramids," Feltoe says. At 107 metres long and 20 metres high, the dam is the largest in the former British Empire. When Redpath travelled to Montreal from Jones Falls for supplies, he'd ask his employees what they needed, and then filled their orders. "John always remembered what it was like to be at the bottom of the pile," Feltoe says. Redpath's endeavours after the canal's completion included organizing a "secret" underground army in 1837 to fight (Louis) Papineau's Patriots, who were plotting against the British and planning to separate Quebec. Montreal's English-speaking businessmen saw this French aggression as a threat to their livelihood. In the 1840s, Redpath went into mercantile trading. In 1846, England decided on free trade without consulting the colonies. This bankrupted Montreal's mercantile system, and Redpath lost millions. Eventually, he decided to go into sugar, investing every penny in building a refinery by Montreal's Lachine Canal. When the Canada Sugar Refinery opened in 1854, it was Montreal's first industrial building. Sugar was kind to Redpath, who recorded a profit of $89,546.98 in 1860 – a huge sum in those days. By 1867, Redpath was a man of influence. He served on the board of the Bank of Montreal, controlled policy for the Presbyterian Church in Canada, and was involved in Confederation. He financed education, job training and apprenticeship programs for the poor. Redpath also found time to marry twice and father 17 children. Shortly after his first wife died, he successfully courted Jane Drummond, the daughter of the stonemason with whom he had apprenticed. She was 19, and Redpath, 39. Redpath died of stroke in 1869, at 72. The refinery continued to prosper under the Redpaths until World War I, when the Canadian government took over the sugar industry. The business was somewhat revived in the 1930s, and then commandeered again by the government in 1939. By the 1950s, the industry was in ruins. British-based Tate & Lyle bought 51 per cent of Redpath shares, modernized the Montreal plant and built a new cane sugar plant in Toronto, on Queen's Quay E. In 1979, T & L bought all Redpath shares and operated the Toronto plant until February 2007, when it was sold to American Sugar Refining, Inc. But John Redpath's signature, the world's oldest trademark for a food product, remains on the packaging.

The Redpath mansion at 3457 du Musee was demolished March 2014. It will be replaced with student residences in August 2015. 23 appartments 89 bedrooms 1200$ / bedroom / month rooftop deck August 2015

D'après plusieurs personnes sur http://www.uer.ca , les silos abandonnés de la compagnie Redpath Sugar, le long du Canal Lachine, seront prochainement convertis en centre d'escalade nouveau genre. Voici une photo prise par Controlman, de uer.ca, à l'intérieur d'un des silos urbanphoto.net Il s'agit des silos au premier plan, à droite. Photo prise par Phobac