There are 800 vacant buildings in Montreal. Many could be reused, and a number even have strong heritage value. Here are the stories of some of these abandoned places and the dreams to bring them back to life.
Intended to become the new home of the Montreal congregation of Scientology with a chapel open to all, an academy and an orientation centre, the La Patrie building is still far from housing the ambitious project promised by the Church of Scientology, which was initially supposed to open its doors in 2008. Aside from a few artistic events organized there, the building has been abandoned for nearly two decades, while its work permit has just expired.
“As soon as you open the doors, you’re about to fall three stories,” says Sterling Downey, organizer of the annual Under Pressure graffiti festival, the only organization to occupy part of the building in the past 20 years.
Mr. Downey, also a Verdun borough councillor, had to install temporary scaffolding three storeys high to accommodate the Fresh Paint gallery project on the premises from 2011 to 2013. With the financial support of several partners in the sector, including the Corporation de développement urbain du Faubourg Saint-Laurent, other modifications aimed at making the building safe and accessible to the public had also been carried out temporarily.
The Church of Scientology’s 2007 purchase of the building for $4.25 million was part of a wave of property acquisitions by the controversial religious movement, which in the 2000s planned to renovate dozens of historic buildings around the world into “religious” properties. ideal organizations ” According to its website, “an ideal organization is a Church designed to provide the full range of services of the Scientology religion. [sic] to its members, while providing the community with its assistance and social improvement programs.
From our “Adopt a Building” series
In 17 years, the Church of Scientology’s vast real estate project, postponed several times, has not progressed much. The duty reported in 2013 that no work had been undertaken since the building was purchased in 2007. The City of Montreal authorized the use of the century-old building as a place of worship in 2018. A work permit was also granted for major renovations, which would have included incorporating religious symbols of the Church of Scientology into the historic façade of the neoclassical building.
This permit was renewed in 2021, but has just expired, according to information sent to the Duty by the City of Montreal, which has not received a renewal request. Jean Sepic, on behalf of the Church of Scientology of Canada, in an email sent to
A video promoting the project is available online. “The goal of developing La Patrie is to preserve and showcase the rich history of this iconic building,” says Sepic. He confirms that the building “will remain vacant until the renovations are completed.”
Although the number of Canadian Scientologists has declined by more than 20% in 10 years, to just 1,380 followers in 2021, according to Statistics Canada, the Church claims that Duty that it preserves the building in good condition and that the project will be carried out.
Tony Ortega, an American journalist considered an expert on Scientology, said in an interview with The duty that the Church owns many buildings around the world that it is letting “rot.” He lists dozens of them on his website, left abandoned until David Miscavige, the Church’s ecclesiastical leader, approved funding for a ideal organization. “Montreal can make all the noise it wants, can complain, can sue him for unpaid taxes or whatever: David doesn’t care until he wants to open the ideal organization from Montreal,” says the journalist, who has been writing about the organization since 1995.
A temporary artistic vocation
Until the ambitions of its owners are realized, the building, built in 1905 and having housed the press room of the daily The homeland until its closure in 1978, served as an annual backdrop for the Under Pressure graffiti artists. The next edition of the festival will take place on August 10 and 11.
It was on the walls of La Patrie, located on Sainte-Catherine Street East, in the heart of the Quartier des spectacles, that Montreal artist MissMe painted her first series of works. The poor state of the place had left its mark on her. “It was a bit building disused. They were big walls, the ground was in bad condition. […] “There were so many critters and we were on scaffolding, it was very scary,” says the feminist activist.
In exchange for maintaining the building and its interior management, as well as paying the electricity bill, the street art gallery Fresh Paint was able to occupy the first two floors from 2011 to 2013. “It was a very respectful arrangement,” says Sterling Downey. He has maintained a very good relationship with the Church of Scientology, who intends to continue supporting the cultural activities of the festival. “I am always open to doing another project in this area,” he confides.
No sale in sight
“It’s an important building, everyone knows it, everyone is aware of it. Everyone would like to do something [avec l’immeuble]but we’re always a bit stuck,” laments Taïka Baillargeon, assistant director of policies at Héritage Montréal, which aims to highlight the city’s threatened heritage. She says that various interested parties have made attempts to buy the building, but the owners never seemed to want to sell it.
With over $100,000 in unpaid municipal taxes, the church faced foreclosure in 2015 and 2016, before paying off its debts on the last day of notice. Despite the late payments, the church never put the building up for sale.
“If they don’t have a financial gain to do it, there’s no need to do it. It’s a really big problem: they’re going to leave it vacant indefinitely because even if it costs them money, it’s still cheaper than redeveloping,” says Mr.me Baillargeon.
Several other organizations and companies have occupied its premises over the years. The École de technologie supérieure had its first campus there, from its founding in 1974 until 1985. From 1998 to 2004, the basement housed the L’X hall, dedicated to punk music and culture, presenting numerous concerts from the parallel scene.
In 2004, the Université du Québec à Montréal (UQAM) purchased the building for $1.5 million, planning to house the Maison des sciences humaines, and began a major renovation project at an estimated cost of $5.8 million. It dismantled the interior and floors to remove the newspaper’s old presses located in the basement, work that “damaged” the building, according to Mr. Downey.
These renovations were not completed, however, as UQAM faced a major financial crisis in 2007 due to problems that arose during the construction of the Science Complex. It then chose to sell five properties, including the La Patrie building, which still has gaping holes on a large part of the ground floor.