The owner’s tour | A piece of history in the heart of Montreal

Owners open the doors of their exceptional home to us, offered on the resale market.

Valerie Simard
Press

While everything around has been transformed, this townhouse, also transformed, nevertheless still bears the traces of the beginnings of this neighborhood, the Shaughnessy village, an area of ​​Montreal located between downtown and Westmount.

Although the neighborhood has a university campus (Concordia), a college (LaSalle), condo towers, the old Forum and countless restaurants, it is in a short peaceful street, called Baile, that finds this house erected in 1875. It is part of a group of eight similar residences in gray stone from Montreal, a characteristic material of the time.

Change the gray stone for the red sandstone and you could almost be transported to New York in front of one of its classic “brownstone” houses which can be accessed by descending the staircase which ends its course on the garden level or by climbing. the one that leads to the main floor.

Almost a loft

Inside, the style is very urban with the 14ft high ceilings, bare stone and brick walls, wood beams and black steel structures. Several features of the original house have been preserved and enhanced. It is this style, similar to that of a loft or an apartment, that has won over the current owners. Eager to live in a smaller place, they left their Westmount residence five years ago to settle there with their two daughters, then students.

The interior of the residence, which is arranged over three levels in addition to a small mezzanine, had been completely renovated by the previous owner, according to plans proposed by an architect. “He had taken over the house ready to fall”, underlines M^me Trinh. Childless at the time of the renovations, he had turned it into a “bachelor’s house”, with very little storage, closed rooms and a mezzanine built above the kitchen to accommodate his record collection and DJ turntable. “The neighbors told us that there were a lot of parties here! ”

On their arrival, the owners therefore adapted the space to their needs. They added storage, partitions to create three closed bedrooms, renovated the main bathroom and had excavation work done to create a room for storage. The stone facade, which had been painted, was cleaned and restored. They also improved the heating system, in particular with the addition of a heat pump, since the rooms on the garden level, where the thick foundations are exposed, were cold in winter.

With a frontage width of 20 ft, the house is narrow, but by adding the area of ​​the different levels, we obtain a living area of ​​2,400 ft.².

Calm in action

Despite its high population density, Shaughnessy village has some green spaces on its territory and nearby. Behind the house is an alley, like those found in many neighborhoods in Montreal. “Even though we’re right in the city center, it’s really peaceful,” observes the owner. There are a lot of families in the neighborhood, also university students and people who have lived in the neighborhood for a long time. ”

Shaughnessy Village is rich in history. Former agricultural land offered to the Sulpicians, the territory developed between the years 1870 and 1910. It hosted several figures of the bourgeoisie of the time, including Thomas George Shaughnessy, former president of the Canadian Pacific Railway, who gave his name to the district. His former home, the Shaughnessy House, was acquired by Phyllis Lambert before being incorporated into the Canadian Center for Architecture, which is located at the end of Baile Street.

Since then, the “village” has become a multi-ethnic district recognized for its food offer and its good addresses, mainly Asian. “Since we live here, we are really lazy to cook! », Remarks M^me Trinh, who will soon settle in Verdun with her husband, their daughters soon leaving home. The nearby restaurants are one of the things they’ll miss, with the piano tunes being played by their daughter which it seems resonates beautifully in this high-ceilinged home.

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