Built Heritage in Montreal: Churches

One of my favourite parts of the built heritage landscape that I explored in Montreal was the old churches that are located throughout the city.  These churches are often tucked in amongst office buildings, hotels, and other modern day amenities.  Additionally, a number of the churches have multiple buildings on their properties such as: a rectory, lodging for religious orders, and office space in addition to the sanctuary space.  The pure size of the church properties often surprised me.  I had thought that many of the churches would have given up land or been torn down to make space for development.  I was also happy to see one church that was in the process of being renovated (with keeping the great architecture in tact) for adaptive reuse as a condo and recreation facility.

I also loved the decorative copper sculpture and roof work that was prominent on a number of the Catholic and Anglican churches in the city. Here are photos of some of my favourites.  The first two photographs are of Cathédrale Marie-Reine-du-Monde, which has been designated as a national historical site. Photo credit goes to Andrew MacKay.