The heart of Montreal’s Chinatown has just been classified as a heritage site, strengthening the protection of several century-old buildings there.
It was the Minister of Culture, Mathieu Lacombe, who decided on this, citing the need to preserve the “only Chinatown significant heritage preserved in Quebec and Eastern Canada”.
“By granting protection to this heritage site, the Minister of Culture and Communications recognizes the great heritage value of this sector and contributes to its preservation and transmission to future generations,” adds the press release from the Government of Quebec.
The classified area includes nine buildings, mostly located along rue de La Gauchetière, between rue Saint-Urbain and rue Jeanne-Mance. It includes in particular the church of the Mission-Catholic-Chinoise-du-Saint-Esprit, which dates from 1834, the former cigar factory S. Davis and Sons, transformed at the end of the 19e century, and the building of the British and Canadian School of Montreal, which dates from 1826.
A stone arch that marks the western entrance to Chinatown is also listed.
The recent construction of high-rise contemporary buildings at the southern entrance to Chinatown, on Saint-Laurent Boulevard, has alerted heritage advocates in recent years.
“Each new project alters Chinatown. We are chipping away at it piece by piece,” denounced Jonathan Cha, member of a municipal working group on the future of the sector. If this continues, in a few years, people will no longer have any reason to come here. The neighborhood will have lost its identity. »