Leo’s Horse Palace on rue Ottawa as it looked on October 20th. Although this stable is nowhere near the largest of a handful in and around Griffintown, it is by far the best known. If you want to know a bit about Leo and his stable, this 2004 Mirror article by Kristain Gravenor (writer of the Coolopolis blog) is quite good.
5 comments
thank you for posting this.. it made my day.
Hello,
Since Griffintown is part of these days current news, I did some research on the net about Griffintown and found out a side of Montreal history I was not aware of. While reading this informations, Leo Horse Palace caught my curiosity and I want to know if he still has horses and if we can visit him. Finally, What will happen to him with the new Griffintown project by Devinco?
thanks,
Julie
I believe that the Horse Palace is outside the bounds of redevelopment, so it should be staying.
The stable is on the south side of Ottawa so it is indeed part of the new development but it is one of the historic properties that are slated be preserved. The horses, however, will not be able to stay as Leo’s stable is grandfathered so if he moves or decides not to keep horses anymore, the zoning will be changed and will be impossible to change back. There were plans to buy the stable and turn it into a museum but this seems fairly unlikely now with the unveiling of the development plans this week.
I have been passed there a few of times, there sometimes is a horse in the yard up front, but there is always a man who starts swearing and telling us to stay away from the stables.