Montreal City Weblog

Kate 10:40 on 2023-01-16 Permalink Reply  

• dwgs 11:25 on 2023-01-16 Permalink

  You can tell the original owners were nothing but class by the prominent display of White Claw in the photo of the wine cellar.

• Andrew 11:48 on 2023-01-16 Permalink

  Google Street view goes back to 2007 and it’s the same building, but much worse. Bigger windows and boring new facade, at least they got rid of all the brown.

• Ephraim 12:09 on 2023-01-16 Permalink

  Just $9.9 Million… https://www.centris.ca/en/houses~for-sale~westmount/22668915?view=Summary for the listing

• Kate 12:43 on 2023-01-16 Permalink

  The only good thing to say about it is that it’s tucked into a cul‑de‑sac so it’s mostly out of sight. Two much smaller houses facing it aren’t exactly architectural gems either.

  One thing I heartily dislike about the big house and its two facing neighbours is that the thing they thrust into the street at eye level are garages.

• Blork 12:59 on 2023-01-16 Permalink

  It was built in 1961, at a time when modernism and international style was all the rage. I’m sure at the time they saw this as the height of contemporary sophistication, and a proper refutation of all those stodgy old “classical” houses in the area. Lesson: tastes change, and just because something seems right now, it won’t necessarily age well.

  It was originally clad in flagstone, which was suitable for its vintage. At some point between 2015 and 2018 they re-did the stonework and replaced it with the smooth greystone we see now. It did not help. In fact it made it worse, because now it just floats in a timeless vacuum of bad and inappropriate materials. At least the flagstone was contemporary to its time.

• Blork 13:06 on 2023-01-16 Permalink

  For anyone who likes to peek, go to https://goo.gl/maps/yba8MDvpYoNDruq8A

  Check out the new stonework at the bottom of the rotunda, and how they’ve used flat stones on the round facade. The result is a bad lego-block look that seems like someone was too cheap to do it right. Then go back to 2015 where you see the original stonework. Even if you don’t like flagstone, you have to admit that at least the bottom of the rotunda looks like it was properly built.

  Also: in the 2015 (and earlier) views, the metal and glass of the rotunda and balcony serve as a deliberate contrast to the flagstone, which is at least visually and thematically interesting. All that is lost after the renovation.

• Kevin 13:42 on 2023-01-16 Permalink

  For $500,000 more you get a mansion in Laval with a private beach.
  https://courrierlaval.com/maison-vente-10-millions-laval-domaine/

• Blork 14:11 on 2023-01-16 Permalink

  Yes, but who could eat in that dining room? #thehorrorthehorror

  https://courrierlaval.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/01/media-7.png

• dhomas 14:19 on 2023-01-16 Permalink

  I had the exact same thought as Blork. The stonework was much nicer looking than the new brick. What a shame.
  I also giggle at the White Claw, @dwgs. I’m pretty sure there’s a bottle of Dom Perignon in the background. The people doing the staging could have led with that.

• Kate 14:20 on 2023-01-16 Permalink

  Blork, if that Westmount house had even a twinkle of Expo 67-era charm, I could forgive it a little, but it looks like the worst of campus architecture of the era.

  That Laval dining room, holy anorexia. Nobody could eat in there.

• Blork 14:39 on 2023-01-16 Permalink

  Kate, I agree. I don’t mean to imply I like it; just thinking about where it comes from so to speak. And commenting on the “bad-to-worse” reno.

• shawn 15:04 on 2023-01-16 Permalink

  I read the Dirt.com LA celebrity real estate site for kicks sometimes and I think I’ve become desensitized to goddawful mansions. Also Steven Dennis on Twitter/Mastodon does a “Friday Night Zillow” thing which is fun.

  But yes definitely reminiscent of cheap campus architecture, as Kate says.

• Mark 16:04 on 2023-01-16 Permalink

  For many other great examples (with funny descriptions of each), I leave you with this gem of a blog.

  https://mcmansionhell.com/

• Uatu 16:34 on 2023-01-16 Permalink

  Those McMansions look like the houses in the neighborhood in Brossard where the hockey players live

• dwgs 17:22 on 2023-01-16 Permalink

  Palate cleanser (don’t be scared, it’s sfw) https://cabinporn.com/

• GC 17:50 on 2023-01-16 Permalink

  Oh no! I’m already addicted to Zillow Gone Wild, on Instagram, and this thread is going to give me plenty of other distractions.

• shawn 21:37 on 2023-01-16 Permalink

  I didn’t know about Zillow Gone Wild on Instagram, thanks.