Faubourg Saint-Laurent

On Ontario Street, La Patrie kept the stables used for horse-drawn newspaper deliveries. In the Red Light area, houses contained homes above small shops and neighbourhood services. Working families and small shopkeepers lived in the area. After the fire of 1852, rebuilding replaced the destroyed structures with brick construction. The Dozois report of 1954 identified the area as a slum district; the chosen redevelopment scheme called for its buildings to be demolished and replaced with the Habitations Jeanne-Mance. The first apartments opened in 1959. The new development combined towers, rows of multiplexes and townhouses.

Place des Arts inaugurated La Grande Salle, now Salle Wilfrid-Pelletier, on September 21, 1963. Its programming partners include Duceppe, Les Grands Ballets, Opéra de Montréal, the Orchestre symphonique de Montréal and the Orchestre métropolitain. At Complexe Desjardins, office towers and a shopping gallery surround a public square with a fountain. The towers have an octagonal form. The complex also connects to downtown’s underground pedestrian network.

Key places

• Former La Patrie stables : horse-drawn newspaper deliveries from Ontario Street.
• Habitations Jeanne-Mance : social housing created through urban redevelopment.
• Place des Arts : Grande Salle opened in September 1963.
• Complexe Desjardins : offices, shopping gallery and a square with a fountain.