In this before-and-after shot we can see the evolution (some would say devolution) of the Park Avenue retail strip between Bernard and St. Viateur. In the top photo, taken in the 1930s, the Reding Apartments housed a location of Metropolitan Stores, a Canadian five-and-dime chain that competed with the American Woolworths (which I believe also had a location on Park) and can be seen as a predecessor to today’s Dollarama.
Last spring, when I took the bottom photo, the Reding Apartments had been so transformed it is unrecognizable at first glance. Virtually all detail has been stripped off the façade and its windows were replaced. The only thing that has remained the same is the apartment building’s entrance, which, if you look closely, you will see is marked by the same hand-painted sign as in the 1930s.
It’s possible that these changes were made after a fire, but I think it’s more likely that they came as part of a misguided attempt to modernize a perfectly handsome building. Many other buildings on Montreal’s commercial streets suffered similar fates in the 1950s, 60s and 70s. On this stretch of Park Avenue, there is no shortage of old buildings that have had their cornices removed, architectural details stripped and windows replaced; just look at the two buildings that flank the Reding Apartments.
There’s a story to be told in the retail that now occupies the building, too. Until 2006, the ground floor was occupied by a window supply store and an electronic gadget shop. Both are now gone, replaced by a trendy resto-bar and a takeaway sushi shop.
One comment
Oh my. I lived in that building when the renovation was done. The landlord gave no warning that he was going to do it. I did express my dismay, but it was too late. It was some time, between 1984 & 1989. No, there was no fire.