ville-marie Hôtel Mount Stephen - 12 étages

[monctezuma]

... Mayor Denis Coderre said the wall will be taken down “stone by stone” and rebuilt exactly as it was. The Renaissance Revival mansion at 1400 Drummond St. is classified as a provincial heritage monument and National Historic Site of Canada.

 

....

 

 

Puis le projet fera faillite, puis le promoteur va disparaître avec les pierres, puis on construira une réplique en béton pré-fab dans 15 ans.

 

(SLEB/Loft des arts)

[MtlMan]

Puis le projet fera faillite, puis le promoteur va disparaître avec les pierres, puis on construira une réplique en béton pré-fab dans 15 ans.

 

(SLEB/Loft des arts)

 

Rocco sors de ce corps!

[jerry]

The good, the bad and the ugly: French expert assesses Montreal architecture

 

 

Marian Scott, Montreal Gazette

 

Published on: April 13, 2016 | Last Updated: April 14, 2016 7:44 AM EDT

 

What would an international expert think of Montreal’s recent architecture?

 

To find out, the Montreal Gazette took French architecture critic Emmanuel Caille on a walking tour of downtown and Griffintown. He also visited the $52.6-million indoor soccer stadium that opened last year in the St-Michel district.

 

Caille, the editor of the Paris-based architecture magazine “d’a”, was in town to take part in a panel discussion last week on architectural criticism, organized by the Maison de l’architecture du Québec and the Royal Architectural Institute of Canada (RAIC).

 

Caille’s verdict on our fair city ranged from a thumbs-up for the pricey new soccer stadium to shocked incredulity over a new hotel annex to the Mount Stephen Club, a historic mansion at 1440 Drummond St.

 

Built from 1880-83 for Lord Mount Stephen, the first president of the Canadian Pacific Railway, it has been in the news recently after suffering structural damage during construction of the annex.

 

Caille, an architect as well as an editor, did not comment on the structural problems, but he did give a visual assessment of the hotel addition, an 11-storey cement-panel structure tucked behind the mansion.

 

“It’s quite brutal in the city,” he said.

 

From de Maisonneuve Blvd., the hotel addition presents a view of three blank walls with a shed-style roof.

 

“It’s astonishing. It’s bizarre,” he said.

 

Caille was also perplexed by the front façade, dotted with small windows of different sizes.

 

“What is not obvious is what relationship there is between this building and the mansion. I don’t see any,” he added.

 

The hotel addition shows why projects should not be conceived in isolation, Caille said. City planners should have put forward a vision for the entire block, which includes an outdoor parking lot on de la Montagne St. that would have made a better site for a high rise, he said. Interesting alleyways and outdoor spaces could have been included, he said.

 

“Everybody is turning their back to one another,” he said of how the different properties on the block don’t relate to each other.

 

At the Ritz-Carlton hotel on Sherbrooke St., Caille said a glass condo addition completed in 2013 is a good example of how to update a historic building for modern use.

 

But he criticized white PVC windows on the hotel’s Sherbrooke St. façade for their thick frames and mullions, which don’t suit the building.

 

“That’s horrible,” he said. “Windows are the eyes of a building. When women use an eye pencil to emphasize their eyes, it changes everything.”

 

In Griffintown, Caille was unimpressed by the banal architecture of condo towers that have sprouted in recent years in the former industrial district, which is undergoing rapid transformation.

 

But the former Dow Planetarium at 1000 St-Jacques St. W. caught his eye. Built in 1966, it closed in 2011. The city turned it over to the Université du Québec’s École de technologie supérieure in 2013. ÉTS announced it would transform the building into a “creativity hub” but so far the building has sat vacant.

 

Caille said the domed landmark has great potential to be recycled for a new vocation.

 

“When a building is dirty and dilapidated, people don’t see its beauty. You have to see the beauty underneath the neglect,” he said.

 

Today there is a consensus that older heritage buildings should be preserved but it’s still difficult to rally public opinion behind buildings from more recent eras, like the 1960s, Caille said.

 

The Deloitte Tower, a new 26-storey glass office tower between the Bell Centre and Windsor Station, is nothing to write home about, in Caille’s opinion.

 

“It’s developer architecture,” he said. “There’s nothing interesting about it.”

 

Built by developer Cadillac Fairview, it is part of the $2-billion, nine-tower Quad Windsor project.

 

That includes the 50-storey Tour des Canadiens, which will be Montreal’s tallest condo tower for about a year, until the even taller nearby L’Avenue tower is completed.

 

Most people don’t notice the difference between good and bad architecture when a building is new, Caille said.

 

But over time, the defects of bad buildings grow increasingly obvious, while the good ones become beloved monuments, he said.

 

“People go to New York to see the architecture of the 1920s and 30s,” he said, referring to landmarks like the 1931 Empire State Building and 1928 Chrysler Building.

 

“Good architecture always pays off in the long term.”

 

Unfortunately, much development is driven by short-term considerations, he said.

 

While a developer can walk away from a mediocre building once it’s sold, city-dwellers are stuck with it, he said.

 

“For him, it’s no problem. But for the city, it’s a tragedy,” he said.

 

“Today’s architecture is tomorrow’s heritage,” he noted.

 

Caille is a strong proponent of architectural competitions, which he sees as a way to seek out the best talents and ideas.

 

“It forces people to think and it shows that for every problem, there are many solutions. It’s a way of accessing brainpower,” he said.

 

The St-Michel soccer stadium has been criticized for its high price tag but Caille hailed it as an example of excellent design.

 

The ecological building designed by Saucier & Perrotte has three glass walls overlooking a park in the St-Michel environmental complex.

 

Caille said the stadium could be a catalyst for improvements in the hardscrabble north-end neighbourhood.

 

During Tuesday’s panel discussion, Paul Goldberger, a Pulitzer Prize-winning former architecture critic for the New York Times and the New Yorker, said that unlike other types of journalists, architectural critics rarely have an immediate impact on public opinion.

 

“Architectural criticism must take a very long view,” he said.

 

“One learns to think of one’s influence as more gradual, as shifting tastes and judgment over time.”

 

Goldberger, author of books including Why Architecture Matters, published in 2009, has written that the critic’s job is not to push for a particular architectural style, but rather to advocate for the best work possible.

 

He said the time in his career when architectural criticism enjoyed greatest prominence was following Sept. 11, 2001, during discussions over the rebuilding of the World Trade Center.

 

“It was a time when architectural criticism really was, I think, front and centre in the public discourse,” he said.

 

“There it was so clear that an issue of architecture was intimately connected to significant world affairs and one did not have to struggle to help people understand the connection between architecture and the rest of the world,” said Goldberger, who now writes for Vanity Fair and teaches at The New School in New York.

 

In a 2011 review of the new World Trade Center for the New Yorker, Goldberger said the design by architect Daniel Libeskind “struck a careful balance between commemorating the lives lost and reestablishing the life of the site itself.”

 

The panel discussion followed the awarding of two $1,000 prizes to young writers for architectural writing on the topic of libraries. The winning entries by Marie-Pier Bourret-Lafleur and Kristen Smith will be published respectively in Argus and Canadian Architect magazines.

 

mascot@montrealgazette.com

 

Twitter.com/JMarianScott

 

http://montrealgazette.com/news/local-news/good-architecture-pays-french-expert

[Rocco]

Im 100% behind Caille criticism he was spot on on everything, I swear It could have been me saying those same things. Montreal's new developments are terrible and shameful.

[DavidB]

Im 100% behind Caille criticism he was spot on on everything, I swear It could have been me saying those same things. Montreal's new developments are terrible and shameful.

 

I disagree. Some buildings, especially Hotel Mount Stephen, are indeed ugly, but MTL has a lot of simple, modern architecture which contrasts well with the landmarks like the Sun Life building and Windsor Station (e.g. Deloitte, which looks great at night, and l'Avenue). There is nothing Bilbao quality in the modern stuff in the city, but the simplicity of the new keeps the emphasis on the old.

 

Griffintown is indeed chaotic, sometimes ugly, and in desperate need of parks, schools and generally greenery, but it also has a certain charm in my view.

[peekay]

 

Did the era of "Golden Square Mile" include bad architecture design?

[Rusty]

Did the era of "Golden Square Mile" include bad architecture design?

 

Well if you look at it in the dark it's quite stunning

[SKYMTL]

In the dark provided all the lights are on at the same time.

[acpnc]

C'est le monde à l'envers côté visibilité: de jour quand on voit tout c'est un cauchemar et avec la magie de la nuit on dirait un rêve? Morale de cette histoire: moins on le voit plus on l'aime.

[ScarletCoral]

via the Gazette :

 

 

Mount Stephen Club's structural problems date back at least 15 years: documents

Marian Scott, Montreal Gazette

 

Published on: May 3, 2016 | Last Updated: May 9, 2016 10:42 AM EDT

 

Quebec’s Culture ministry has known for at least 15 years that the Mount Stephen Club was at risk of structural damage from nearby high-rise construction, documents obtained under a freedom-of-information request reveal.

 

Yet the ministry never called for special precautions to protect the heritage landmark at 1400 Drummond St. when it approved plans to convert it into a hotel and add an 11-storey annex in 2012, they show.

 

The documents – 702 pages of emails, permits, reports and photographs dating back to 2001 – also reveal that ministry officials took three weeks to follow up on a citizen’s complaint that the club’s owner, developer Tidan Inc., was destroying architectural features of the historic monument.

 

The ministry is suing owners Mike Yuval and Jack Sofer and their numbered company, 9166-9093 Québec Inc., for unauthorized alterations, including the demolition of three chimneys, removal of a stone and wrought-iron fence and porch railing, covering up of a stone wall with cement-panel siding, construction of a cinder-block wall in the attic and a structure on the roof to hide a generator.

 

In recent weeks, workers have been dismantling part of the mansion’s stone facade, which had developed large cracks and become unstable during construction of the hotel tower and an underground garage. The Culture ministry and Ville-Marie borough gave Tidan the go-ahead to take down the wall after structural engineers said it was necessary in order to shore up the foundations. The ministry and borough have ordered the owner to save and number the stones and rebuild the wall exactly as it was before.

 

Heritage advocates question how Quebec’s heritage-protection law failed to safeguard the building, classified as a provincial heritage site and National Historic Site of Canada.

 

Quebec’s Cultural Property Act requires owners of classified buildings to “take the necessary measures to preserve the heritage value of the property” and prohibits them from demolishing or altering it without authorization from the minister.

 

The documents confirm advocates’ fears that it will be very difficult to restore the historic mansion to its former glory.

 

Not only must the stone facade be dismantled and rebuilt, but the hardwood floors, wood-panelled walls, coffered ceilings and marble entrance hall must also be removed and reconstructed, reveals an email by Louis Routhier, a heritage consultant with the ministry.

 

“This ornamentation is unique in Quebec and is inextricably linked to the heritage value of the Mount Stephen Club building. This work carries numerous risks: the loss of original elements, the loss of the original construction techniques and changes to the interior and exterior appearance of the building,” Routhier warned on Jan. 26 in an email to Marie-Ève Kirouac, a ministry official responsible for legal sanctions.

 

Built from 1880-83 for George Stephen, first president of the Canadian Pacific Railway, the mansion was until recently the best-preserved example of interior decoration from Montreal’s Gilded Age, when the city was Canada’s industrial and transportation hub.

 

It operated as an elite private club from 1926 to 2011, when Tidan, the owner since 2006, closed it down to convert it into a hotel.

 

The opulent residence, in the Italian Renaissance style, features 15-foot ceilings and walls panelled in Ceylon satinwood, oak and walnut; doors in Cuban mahogany; light fixtures, door handles and radiator grilles plated in 22-carat gold; 300-year-old stained glass windows from Italy and fireplaces in onyx and marble.

 

The sumptuous interior of the Mount Stephen Club in 1998, prior to the recent construction of an 11-storey hotel annex. DAVE SIDAWAY / Montreal Gazette files

 

The sumptuous interior has suffered extensive damage, according to the documents.

 

On “our last inspection, we noticed a significant deterioration of the wood panelling on the north and east walls of the heritage building,” says a warning letter sent to the owners on Dec. 21, 2015.

 

The documents also show the historic mansion was already suffering from structural problems 15 years ago and underwent $2 million worth of work to correct them in 2004.

 

In 2001, heritage consultant André Chouinard warned that structural problems, linked to real-estate development in the vicinity, posed a dire threat to the mansion, classified as a provincial heritage site since 1975 and national historic site since 1971.

 

The “sagging of the structure of the central part is serious and urgent,” Chouinard wrote in an email to four other ministry officials on March 27, 2001. The foundation problems were damaging the interior woodwork, causing plumbing leaks and could pose a fire risk if electrical wiring were to be exposed to water, he reported.

 

“In short, the basement looks like a house of horrors,” Chouinard wrote.

 

Ministry officials attributed the foundation problems to construction of nearby high-rise buildings with underground garages.

 

In an email the next day to Gilles Morel, a heritage official at the City of Montreal, ministry official Brigitte Jacques drew Morel’s attention to a Radio-Canada report on the dire state of the building.

 

“The structure of the building is sagging more and more,” she writes. “And the risks are increasing because of the real-estate development surrounding the building.”

 

In a report filed March 30, 2001, Chouinard estimated that it would cost $2.1 million to shore up the foundation, update electricity and plumbing and restore damaged woodwork.

 

The Mount Stephen Club October 13, 2006. Ian Barrett / Montreal Gazette

 

“The pressure on the structure is increasing because of real-estate development around the building. Condo towers are planned beside it, across the street and possibly to the rear. All of these projects include underground parking garages,” he wrote.

 

In an interview in January, structural architecture professor Pieter Sijpkes of McGill University explained the reason new construction poses a threat to historic buildings like the Mount Stephen Club is that Montreal is built on clay soil, which shrinks when it loses humidity, causing foundations to shift. When construction crews excavate a site, they pump out water, which affects the humidity in the soil, he said.

 

Sijpkes said the risk to heritage buildings is well known, and better measures should have been taken to protect the mansion before excavating for the hotel tower and underground garage.

 

In an interview with the Montreal Gazette in January, co-owner Jack Sofer refused to answer when asked whether measures were taken to reinforce the structure during construction.

 

The documents show that in 2001, the ministry provided a $50,000 subsidy to the Mount Stephen Club, then a private club, to seek quotes and plans for the structural repairs and other work.

 

The club then held a fundraising campaign to seek corporate and private donations. The Société d’habitation du Québec provided a $490,600 subsidy, the Montreal Gazette reported in 2004.

 

In May 2004, the club got a permit to shore up the foundation, update mechanical systems and restore woodwork.

 

Yet the building’s history of structural problems was not mentioned when the ministry approved plans for the hotel tower and underground garage on May 29, 2012.

 

It rubber-stamped the final plans on April 11, 2013.

 

Ministry officials seemed more concerned about how the hotel annex would look than the risks of grafting an 11-storey tower onto a fragile Victorian house, the documents show.

 

“The over-all treatment of the facades, particularly the facade that serves as a backdrop for the monument, must be simple and sober and not compete with it by its ornamentation,” the ministry recommended on April 9, 2013.

 

It quoted a decision by the Conseil du patrimoine du Québec, a heritage advisory body, which recommended the entrepreneur take “great care” with the exterior appearance of the hotel tower, “considering its high visibility and original character.”

 

The hotel tower has been criticized as an eyesore for its three blind walls covered in cement-panel siding, shed-style roof and front wall dotted by windows of different sizes. However, the Conseil and the ministry praised its “original character and aesthetically pleasing architectural treatment,” comparing it to a kind of “wallpaper” behind the mansion.

 

While it urged the owners to take great care with the hotel tower, it did not mention the advisability of hiring architects and entrepreneurs with expertise in heritage restoration. Since the structural damage was revealed in late January, experts have stressed the importance of using specialized professionals on projects involving historic buildings.

 

The documents reveal that the owners frequently changed architects, using five different firms. Tidan used its own construction workers on the project, a spokesperson told the Montreal Gazette in January.

 

The ministry documents also show that it was a citizen who alerted the ministry to damage to the historic mansion, including the demolition of three stone chimneys.

 

The complainant, whose name was redacted, first wrote to the ministry on July 16, 2015, to report that workers had torn down the chimneys.

 

The person wrote again on Aug. 11, including a copy of the original complaint, again asking what the ministry intended to do.

 

Chouinard replied the same day, saying he had visited and photographed the site Aug. 7 and would contact the owners “to shed light on the situation.”

 

The person wrote again on Aug. 14 attaching a photograph showing a foreman looking at a dumpster containing stones from the demolished chimneys and asking what sanctions could be taken in such a case. Chouinard replied Aug. 19 enclosing information on the Cultural Property Act. The complainant wrote back Aug. 24 again asking what actions the ministry intended to take. On Oct. 9, the complainant sent an email to a departmental supervisor asking what the ministry intended to do about the situation.

 

On Aug. 13, the ministry sent Tidan a warning letter regarding a generator installed in front of the club’s former ladies’ wing without a permit.

 

Ministry officials visited the site again on Sept. 8. Two weeks later, the ministry filed for an injunction to halt work and sued Tidan for alterations done without a permit, including the chimney demolitions, changes to the fence and railing, cement-panel siding on top of original stonework, construction of a cement-block wall in the attic, steel structure on the roof and removal of cast-iron radiators.

 

In October, ministry officials pressed the owners for an engineering report on increasingly apparent structural problems, including cracks in bearing walls in the attic and deterioration of the interior woodwork.

 

The Mount Stephen Club at 1400 Drummond St. in Montreal, January 20, 2016. Dave Sidaway / Montreal Gazette

 

By Dec. 7, Routhier reported the building’s “state of deterioration” had become “alarming.”

 

On Dec. 21, the ministry ordered Tidan to halt further unauthorized work, including alterations to exterior stonework and the addition of a steel structure to the outside of the building. It also ordered the company to halt work that did not respect conditions set in the permits, such as the construction of a steel structure to connect the mansion with the new hotel annex.

 

The warning letter notes “significant deterioration” of the interior woodwork, “potentially related to work to install foundation pilings.” A permit is required before such work may be undertaken, the letter warns.

 

It reminds the owners that penalties for unauthorized alterations to a provincial heritage site range from $2,000 to $190,000 for an individual and from $6,000 to $1.14 million for a company.

 

The documents appear to contradict a statement by the opposition Projet Montréal party that municipal inspectors did not visit the Mount Stephen site between Aug. 19, 2014 and Nov. 6, 2015.

 

They show municipal inspector Francis Lefebvre visited the site with the ministry’s Routhier on June 9, 2015.

 

The ministry made three routine visits to the site between Dec. 19, 2014 and June 9, 2015.

 

Ministry officials visited the site once in August, four times in September and October and five times in November and December.

 

The documents suggest that at times the ministry had difficulty getting the owner to comply with its requests. In reply to the request for a report by a structural engineer, Tidan provided a report by its construction entrepreneur, notes a memo filed on Nov. 13, 2015. The ministry reiterated that the report must be by an engineer.

 

On Jan. 8, Kirouac notes that she has received “the go-ahead for contempt-of-court if necessary.”

 

On Jan. 26, Routhier writes to a representative (whose name is redacted) of the owners to remind him that he must apply to the Ville-Marie borough for permits and saying that the borough’s building inspector, Francis Cieri, has called him several times to say the owners have not been following this instruction.

mscott@postmedia.com

 

Twitter.com/JMarianScott

Modifié 9 mai 2016 par ScarletCoral