Seminary for sale?

The site houses two of the city's oldest buildings--two stone towers from the late 17th century--but that apparently will not interfere with plans for, you guessed it, more residential developments in the downtown core. Neither will the property's classification as an historic site.

The plot of land once known as Fort de la Montagne is bordered by Atwater and Côte-des-Neiges, Dr. Penfield and Sherbrooke, and has belonged to the Sulpician Fathers for almost 300 years. It contains buildings of great architectural import as well as one of the oldest pieces of landscape architecture in Canada.

"It is an oasis in the city," Dinu Bumbaru of Heritage Montreal told the Mirror. "It is strange that the province would allow construction on one of the few historic estates of that quality in North America."

Although no detailed plans for the residential development have been put forth, the province has rejigged its "historic" classification of the land so that it no longer covers the entirety of the property, but only the portion that houses the buildings in question, thus paving the way for development on a portion of it.

Bumbaru describes the track record of Quebec's Ministry of Culture (responsible for historic sites) as a trail of broken promises, and he also accuses the city of being fueled by desire for more tax dollars.

"I don't understand why public leadership can't see why this is important," laments Bumbaru. "I'd like to suggest they take a walking tour of the city."

A proposal for rezoning the site to allow residences on it will be submitted to City Council August 9 for final approval.

--Dominique Ritter