City preview · MONTRÉAL

Montreal homes with front doors upstairs

In Rosemont, outdoor stairs give upstairs households their own entrances from the street. Working-class French reached the stage in a kitchen drama at the Rideau Vert. St-Viateur’s bagels are boiled before they enter the wood-fired oven. Part of the Jacques Cartier Bridge was raised to let larger ships pass beneath it.

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5e Avenue & Rue Masson · Editorial illustration, not a historical photo

At home, on stage and above the Seaway

Outdoor stairs, joual on stage, wood-fired bagels and a raised bridge span

Four complete stories and their public sources are shown here; the rest of the collection is in the app.

01 · 5e Avenue & Rue Masson

Upstairs starts at the sidewalk

These upper-floor homes have their own outdoor stairs.

Along this part of Rosemont, stairs turn and branch in front of the houses, each route reaching an upstairs door. Several households share a building, but upstairs residents can reach home straight from the street without passing through the home below. Each entrance faces the street, with a landing and an exposed stair. From the sidewalk, follow a flight upward to see which door it serves.

Source: ville.montreal.qc.ca

02 · Théâtre du Rideau Vert

Kitchen French reached the stage

Fifteen women brought working-class French into the theater.

Les Belles-Soeurs premiered at Théâtre du Rideau Vert in 1968. In the play, a housewife wins a million trading stamps and invites relatives and neighbors to help paste them into redemption books. Fifteen women crowd into the kitchen, talking more and more in the everyday French of Montreal working families, often called joual. Playwright Michel Tremblay wrote that speech directly into the script.

Source: rideauvert.qc.ca

03 · St-Viateur Bagel

Boil first, bake second

These bagels take a honey-water bath before baking.

At St-Viateur, shaped bagels don't go straight into the oven. Bakers roll the dough into rings and boil them in hot water with honey. Then they lift them out, coat them with sesame seeds or other toppings, and slide them into a wood-fired oven on long wooden boards. The stages sit close together behind the counter.

Source: stviateurbagel.com Source: mtl.org Source: stviateurbagel.com

04 · Belvédère du Pont Jacques-Cartier

The bridge had to go higher

Larger ships needed more room beneath an existing bridge.

The Jacques-Cartier Bridge was already built before the St. Lawrence Seaway opened. When the waterway was being prepared for large ships, the clearance under the bridge wasn't enough. The route couldn't move, so the bridge had to change. Engineers raised the deck section over the channel. Road traffic kept using the bridge, and larger vessels could pass below.

Source: legacy.csce.ca Source: en.wikipedia.org

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