Three Strange Streets
Back in October, on one of the unseasonably warm and humid days Montreal had towards the end of fall, I was on the 129 bus heading west to Victoria Avenue when I noticed three odd streets on the south side of Côte Ste. Catherine. Unusually for streets in Côte des Neiges, which tend to be very wide, they appeared to consist of nothing more than a simple pathway surrounded by greenery.
Later, I returned to investigate and discovered that the streets I had seen were Beaminster Place, Bradford Place and Campden Place, a trio of block-long passages tucked behind Côte-Sainte-Catherine metro. Lined by relatively modern four-plexes, they were open only to pedestrians, with a single narrow strip of pavement running between lush front yards. Residents parked their cars in the exceptionally wide laneways that ran between the streets.
In Côte des Neiges, a patchwork of different neighbourhoods built at different times throughout the twentieth century, I’ve come to expect urban planning oddities. But these three “places” were unlike anything I’d seen in Montreal before. According to the city’s property records, the houses along Beaminster, Bradford and Campden were all built between 1936 and 1951. Architecturally, they’re pretty much indistinguishable from any of the 1930s- and 40s-era houses in the west end; it’s their setting that makes them so unique.
The City of Montreal’s toponymy database reports that Beaminster, Bradford and Campden places were built in 1936 by the Terrace Construction Company, part of a 48-duplex development called Cotswald Village. If these names sound twee, it’s because they were taken from villages and towns in England’s Dorset, Gloucestershire and Yorkshire counties.
This still doesn’t shed any light on the motives of the developer. Why only three streets? Were they part of a failed plan to transform Côte des Neiges into a vast English-style Garden City? Or did the Terrace Construction Company simply have modest ambitions?
Click here to see more photos of the three “places.” Thanks to Martin Bérubé for referring me to the place names database.
Tags: Exploring the City, Laneways, Montreal, Urban Design
Mary Soderstrom says:
There are a few other developments of this kind in Côte des Neiges, although I don’t think the little paths that separate the houses have names. One is off Plantangent, just east of the Couvent Saint-Albert le grand, which fronts on Côte Sainte-Catherine. Anoher is off Decelles between Côte Saine-Catherine and Edourard-Montpetit. They seem to have garages with access from lanes that run perpendicular to the street, but the entrance to the houses as well as rather nice little front yards face the other row of duplexes. Quite a nice arrangement, it would seem t me.
Mary
December 12th, 2007 at 10:33 am
Bruno says:
Kinda looks like a Montreal version of Macondray Lane in SF
http://www.flickr.com/search/?q=macondray&w=all
I’ll definitely go check it out since I live in the area. Nice find.
December 15th, 2007 at 10:40 am
Stephen says:
Re: comment by Mary Soderstrom.
The little courtyard just off Plantagenet is called Plantagenet Place. As a kid I used to sometimes play with friends in the driveways behind those duplexes. The front pathway was very nice, the downside was that those duplexes had no backyards.
The place just off Decelles has no “official” name, but the complex of apartments was called The Calypso Gardens, they were built in the late 40′s. The buildings were called Calypso Gardens Apartments A, Calypso Gardens Apartment B , etc ….up to R. There is another set of buildings on Decelles just to the north of those called the Garden City apartments that have a nice garden courtyard as well, though there is automobile access around it. They were built in the early 1940′s and were probaly considered upscale in their day, whereas Calypso was built as affordable housing to fill the postwar housing shortage.
January 22nd, 2008 at 11:38 pm