griffintown Lowney sur Ville - 20 étages (2018)

[vincethewipet]

Aujourd'hui:

 

[CFurtado]

23 avril, vue de la terrasse du M9 Phase 3.

[Yvon L'Aîné]

Lowney sur ville. Photos prises 18 mai 2013. L'Excavation est commencée. .

Yvon L'Aîné

[Feanaro]

Bientôt une nouvelle grue dans Griffintown! Ça va être encore plus impressionnant!

[Memphis 22]

[MartinMtl]

merci pour toutes les photos Memphis.

 

Sais t-on s'ils commencent par construire une des tours de 20 étages ?

[Invité Olivier2160]

Selon leur site WEB, il s'agit de la phase 1 qui comprendrait 21 étages.

[MartinMtl]

Ah, merci!

[tigui]

http://www.montrealgazette.com/travel/Historic+works+uncovered+Griffintown/8433023/story.html

[monctezuma]

Historic gas works uncovered in Griffintown

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

By Marian Scott, THE GAZETTE May 25, 2013

 

MONTREAL — The discovery of an important 19th-century archeological site in Griffintown is reviving the debate over whether surging development is erasing the historic district’s past.

 

Bulldozers excavating for a condo tower on Ann St. this week uncovered the foundations of a structure once used to store the gas that lit Montreal’s streets.

 

The New City Gas Works, founded in 1847, revolutionized daily life by introducing gas lighting — both on thoroughfares and in homes and workplaces. The new technology made it possible for factories to operate around the clock in an era when Montreal was emerging as the industrial powerhouse of Canada.

 

The main part of the gas plant, now a concert venue, is still standing at 950 Ottawa St., but the monumental gasometre — the cylindrical building that held the gas reservoirs — was demolished more than 60 years ago.

 

No one knew the brick foundations were still intact until excavation for an underground parking garage brought them to light.

 

Now the question is whether archeologists will be able to document them properly before the bulldozers strip them away.

 

“The site is disappearing before our very eyes,” lamented Louise Pothier, director of exhibitions and technology at the Pointe à Callière archeology museum, who visited the site at the southwest corner of Ann and Ottawa Sts. this week.

 

“I don’t understand how a situation like this can still happen today,” Pothier said. “It’s frustrating and it’s sad.”

 

Harvey Lev, the owner of the New City complex, alerted the city to the archeological vestiges on Tuesday after excavation for a parking garage revealed the foundation, measuring more than two metres in thickness.

 

 

Lev sold the gasometre site a year ago to developers Groupe Prével, which is erecting a 20-storey tower on the site, scheduled for completion in September 2014.

 

Lev called on the government to halt the demolition to give experts the opportunity to examine and catalogue the site and determine whether any part of the foundations, measuring about 90 metres in diametre, could be saved.

 

“It certainly should be investigated,” Lev said.

 

“In my imagination, I can see it becoming the most wonderful tourist attraction,” he added.

 

Benoît Dorais, mayor of the Sud-Ouest borough, said local officials were excited to learn the historic foundations still exist.

 

“It’s a discovery that is really fortuitous. It was completely unexpected,” he said.

 

Dorais said when the borough issued a construction permit, officials had no idea what lay underground.

 

“None of the traces of the first reservoir of the gas complex were supposed to still be there because there had been a lot of demolition and construction,” he said.

 

Until recently, a concrete garage dating from the 1970s stood on the site.

 

 

 

But Jacques Vincent, co-president of Prével, said the borough was well aware the foundations still existed, but gave a permit to excavate the site anyway.

 

“Everyone knew that this thing existed. It was not of archeological interest,” he said.

 

Vincent said his company has brought in archeologists on other development sites in the past when warranted, but added he was confident there is nothing of value on the Ann St. site.

 

 

 

 

 

He said his company retains the services of an archaeology firm, which assured him on Friday the site holds no archeological interest.

 

Workers have taken pictures of the vestiges, he added.

 

Isabelle Poulain, a public-relations officer with the city of Montreal, said the municipality alerted the Quebec Culture and Communications department to the existence of archeological site when it learned of it.

 

Annie Legruiec, a communications officer with the Culture department, said the department contacted the developer, who was cooperative and agreed to hold off on further demolition until an archeological study has been carried out.

 

“What we want is to be sure there is no more destruction of the vestiges until an analysis can be done to document them,” she said.

 

But Vincent said he only agreed to retain a part of the vestiges, not to halt demolition entirely.

 

Lev said bulldozers continued to demolish the foundations Friday afternoon.

 

Dinu Bumbaru, policy director of Heritage Montreal, said the situation might have been avoided if the city had shown greater sensitivity toward Griffintown’s unique history and heritage before the current condo boom got underway.

 

The discovery shows Old Montreal is not the only part of town with sites of archeological value, Bumbaru said.

 

Had development focused on Griffintown’s unique history and geographic features rather than treating it as a blank slate, developers could have integrated some of those into new construction, Bumbaru said.

 

He pointed to a former gas plant in Vienna, which has been refurbished as the centrepiece of a new development.

 

“They’ve taken this and they’ve actually transformed it to a spectacular residential and commercial venue,” Bumbaru said.

 

“If this had been more documented, probably Prével could have been a little bit more creative and recaptured the notion of a cylinder in their design. That would have had lots of personality in what otherwise is a variation on the theme of how to put brick glass and aluminum together,” he said.

 

mascot@montrealgazette.com

 

CORRECTION: An earlier version of this story gave an incorrect measurement for the thickness of the foundation. It is more than two metres thick.

 

 

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