Tender for work on Craig pumping station launched
The city has finally put out a tender for the dismantling of the Craig pumping station, that distinctive but now decrepit structure that still stands under the Jacques‑Cartier bridge. A photo in this piece shows that the building was not always isolated on a small traffic island.
dhomas 17:05 on 2022-04-24 Permalink
Do these dismantling and reassembling projects ever get done? Or do they say they will put it back together and wait for people to forget? I seem to remember another such project in the past few years.
CE 17:20 on 2022-04-24 Permalink
If the result ends up being anything like what was done on the lower Main, I’d rather they just throw the whole building into the Saint Lawrence and forget that it ever existed.
DeWolf 17:29 on 2022-04-24 Permalink
@dhomas, you’re probably thinking of the old De Lorimier town hall/fire station on Mont-Royal. It’s finally being rebuilt after many years of delays.
Kate 18:23 on 2022-04-24 Permalink
DeWolf, you mean the one that caught fire when the guys went out on a call and left a pot of hot oil on the station stove?
dhomas, they sometimes get façaded, as CE notes above. But this little building is one of a kind, and there’s no space there to add anything to it. I remember plans to make it into a gallery or something like that, years ago, which came to nothing. But there are some nice details carved into the stone walls that ought to be saved if they can.
Richard 19:50 on 2022-04-24 Permalink
It’s not exactly one of a a kind. The Riverside Pumping Station from 1887 is still going strong thanks to a hardcore group of dedicated metalworker artisans. Their building might be a bit less imposing, but it’s way better maintained.
https://lesforgesdemontreal.org
There’s a Facebook group for folks who care about the Craig Pumping Station. Probably your best resource for keeping up with developments.
https://www.facebook.com/AmiEsdelaCraig/
Kate 20:46 on 2022-04-24 Permalink
Riverside’s still in use, though, as you point out, and isn’t a carbon copy of the Craig building. But thank you for the links.
Margaret 08:30 on 2022-04-25 Permalink
I have suggested in the past that a multi-museum linking Musee des Patriotes and something to do with Montreal’s brewing history at the Molson complex could be joined with an underground tunnel via the Craig Station, where visitors could pop up like prairie dogs midway and get a museal taste of Montreal’s sewage & pumping station history. A diagonal, 3 theme museum with a single admission fee.
Margaret 08:35 on 2022-04-25 Permalink
***La-Prison-des-Patriotes-au-Pied-du-Courant