One of the city’s numerous high-rise condo construction sites has caused serious damage to the Gesù church on Bleury. I doubt the church as such has much utility these days, but the church basement has been used as an entertainment venue for years.
Updates from November, 2021 Toggle Comment Threads | Keyboard Shortcuts
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Kate
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Kate
Seventeen $1500 fines were given out at the anti-vaxx demo at Ste‑Justine on Thursday, when protesters refused to be moved along by police.
Blork
We need more people like that. Not only do they fill the local coffers with cash, they up and die of Covid which helps depopulate the planet and raises the overall intelligence quotient!
Max
Excellent news, thank you.
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Kate
Two
Ensemblewins have been confirmed in recount: Laurent Desbois as mayor of Outremont by 23 votes, and Caroline Bourgeois as mayor of Rivière-des-Prairies–Pointe-aux-Trembles by 303.Patrick
Caroline Bourgeois is with Projet Montréal : https://projetmontreal.org/equipe/caroline-bourgeois
Kate
Thank you.
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Kate
Ricochet has a renoviction story about a woman forced to pay rent for a place where she couldn’t live.
La Presse profiles a landlord given to “pratiques sauvages” according to its headline.
Ian
Shiller Lavy, winning hearts and minds yet again.
steph
about Pauline Cauchefer: “j’avais pas d’argent, pas d’expérience, pas de parents pour m’aider… …elle dit avoir acheté l’immeuble pour 600 000 $” just HOW? HOW do you buy a 600K property with no money. It doesn’t make sense.
Kate
I know. Some people talk such a good game they can build something from nothing, but I’ve never heard of a loan officer giving out a $600K mortgage on hot air alone. She may not have had family, but she had some kind of help.
On thinking about it: if this was a novel or comic book, a character called Cauchefer would be some kind of demon.
H. John
La Presse added more detail about Pauline Cauchefer’s finances this morning:
DeWolf
The Cauchefer stories are chilling. She sounds like a psychopath.
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Kate
Villeray’s Martine Musau Muele has been named city council chairman, meaning both the council and the executive committee are being chaired by Black women.
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Kate
The voice chosen for the REM for canned announcements is actress Caroline Dhavernas, the daughter of actress Michèle Deslauriers, who does the announcements for the metro. Dhavernas was chosen anonymously by popular vote.
steph
that is incredible.
DeWolf
La Presse mentions that Deslauriers voted in the competition without realizing that Voice B was her own daughter. (They don’t mention who she voted for.)
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Kate
There will be some free parking downtown leading up to Christmas.
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Kate
Stirring piece by Taylor C. Noakes about how Montreal should face the climate emergency, and how Projet should think in terms of 30 years rather than four. He has some vigorous recommendations, too.
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Kate
❄️ Apparently we can expect significant snowfall Friday. Do you know where your shovel is?
Max 00:04 on 2021-11-26 Permalink
Aw, for fuck’s sake.
Though not seen that often, the interior of that church is one of our most gorgeous. And the concert hall downstairs is the best soft-seater in town, bar none. If next year’s Jazz books anyone even remotely interesting into that space, just go. You’ll see what I mean.
It’s also one of our oldest concert venues, dating back to the 1930s. Technically speaking, it’s thoroughly up to date. That thing is a cultural and architectural gem.
Dunno how up to date this info is, but this 2019 page says the developer is building 800+ rental apartments, over two phases.
https://renx.ca/gwl-realty-advisors-montreal-development-455-rene-levesque/
Kate 00:36 on 2021-11-26 Permalink
I stepped into the church once a few years back, from curiosity. Found it oddly cluttered inside – it felt like they’d added a lot of junk and weren’t making the most of the actual architecture, but that was just a quick impression.
DeWolf 11:10 on 2021-11-26 Permalink
Luckily the developer has admitted responsibility rather than putting up a fight.
Also, echoing what Max said, this isn’t a condo tower: it’s rental apartments. Although I understand that “condo” now exists in the lexicon as shorthand for any newly built multi-family building.
EmilyG 14:34 on 2021-11-26 Permalink
I’ve been to some amazing concerts there. I hope it can be fixed well.
Max 15:05 on 2021-11-27 Permalink
One of my favourite shows ever was seeing Bruce Cockburn solo from the 3rd or 4th row in 1997. I’d seen him a few times before and since, but his prowess as a guitarist just blew me away that night.
Interestingly the page I linked above says the average size of the apartments in the building currently going up will be 650 square feet. That’s unusually small.
mtlurb.com has some renderings and a really long discussion about the project:
https://mtlurb.com/topic/15264-455-boul-rene-levesque-ouest-36-45-etages/
Max 20:01 on 2021-11-28 Permalink
The south facade of the church is fenced off by the construction, but what I saw of it looks bad:
https://imgur.com/GyQP0aX
(You might need to right-click the image and open it in a new tab to see the full-res version)
Kate 20:10 on 2021-11-28 Permalink
Max, thank you for the photo – but oof, that does not look good.