The reopening of Barracks 26, the victim of a fire last Thursday, is still planned for this spring, according to the mayor of Plateau-Mont-Royal.
The heritage building on Mont-Royal Avenue experienced a minor fire last Thursday, 25 years after a major fire which ravaged it. The barracks have been closed since 2015 to be rebuilt, but the site is accumulating complications and delays.
Barracks 26 should reopen by the end of spring, in accordance with the latest schedule before last week, said district mayor Luc Rabouin.
“I am told that it is really minor, so there should be no delay,” he said, on the sidelines of a press conference. Spring 2024, “we remain aligned on this”.
“A generator test carried out today generated overheating and a fire around a pipe in the roof,” the Plateau-Mont-Royal borough indicated last Thursday on social networks. ” Fortunately, no one got hurt. An inspection will take place [vendredi] to assess water and smoke damage. »
Fate befalls barracks 26, a heritage building dating from 1901 built at the corner of Mont-Royal and des Érables. In 1999, firefighters working there left a pot on the stove when they left to fight a blaze, sparking a major fire.
10 years ago, its state of deterioration forced the City of Montreal to completely dismantle it before rebuilding it identically. “During the renovation work, the advanced deterioration of the exterior walls which risked collapsing on the workers led to demolition work on the building and subsequently, the complete shutdown of the site in June 2019,” indicated the City of Montreal on its website in 2021.
For years, only a steel skeleton was visible to passers-by.