Culture Minister Nathalie Roy on Monday confirmed the government’s intention to classify the heart of Montreal’s Chinatown and two of its iconic buildings under Quebec’s Cultural Heritage Act. For its part, the City will designate this district as the first identified historic site in Montreal and will tighten the rules regarding heights and densities in this sector.
The sector identified as the “institutional core” of Montreal’s Chinatown which will be protected by Quebec includes several old buildings, as well as the arch located on De La Gauchetière Street which marks the western entrance to Chinatown. The government has also signed a listing intent for two buildings, the British Canadian School, also known as the Wing House, and the former S. Davis and Sons factory.
This protection will ensure that the owners of the buildings located will have to obtain authorization from the Ministry of Culture if they wish to alter, restore or demolish them. “We make sure to give great protection to these buildings and this site because it is still a long segment of Chinatown that is protected by the Government of Quebec,” said Minister Roy during the a virtual press conference Monday morning in the company, in particular, of the mayor Valérie Plante.
Limitations to constructions
Minister Roy explained that Quebec had chosen not to designate the whole of Chinatown as a declared site in the same way as Old Montreal and the Mount Royal Heritage Site because of the urgency of intervening. “Declared sites require 13 to 15 years of preparation. We needed to act quickly,” she said.
For its part, the City of Montreal has announced that it will designate Chinatown as the first historic site identified in Montreal, which will include the former Faubourg Saint-Laurent. “The fact of publicly recognizing the interest of this place in a municipal council regulation is important because it makes it possible to clearly affirm to the population and to owners or future buyers the importance that the City attaches to Chinatown. without having a direct impact on real estate transactions. »
The City will also put in place regulatory measures to limit the permitted height of buildings and their density in this sector. During the meeting of the municipal council which begins Monday afternoon, the elected officials will be called upon to consider a draft by-law which modifies the Urban Plan of the City. The interim control by-law will come into force on Monday pending the final adoption of the modification to the Master Plan. “The regulation, in fact, what it comes to do is to restrict the realization of new subdivision projects, constructions or new land uses, until the modification of the Urban Plan”, explained Mayor Plante.
For Jonathan Shaw, member of the Chinatown Task Force, the building protection measures announced Monday by Quebec City and Montreal represent a first step in preserving the authenticity and integrity of Chinatown. However, he warned that other actions should be taken to ensure the vitality of this district and the protection of intangible heritage.
Bounded by Jeanne-Mance and Saint-Dominique streets, as well as by Viger avenue and René-Lévesque boulevard, Chinatown has been under real estate pressure for decades. In the 1970s and 1980s, several buildings had been sacrificed to make way for the Palais des Congrès and the Complexe Guy-Favreau.