The stretch of present-day Avenue McGill College between Sherbrooke and Sainte-Catherine streets was ceded by McGill University to the city in 1856. It was then named for the university, and before long became a prestigious residential avenue. The landscape quality of the area, with its fine view of Mount Royal, made Avenue McGill College an exceptional site. In the 1920s, the Canadian National Railway first proposed development of a vast real-estate complex to cover the railway trench to the south of the avenue.

A similar concept was developed in 1952 as part of the Master Plan for Montreal supervised by French architect and urban planner Jacques Gréber. It called for the avenue to be widened by 120 feet to enhance the view of the mountain. The construction of Place Ville Marie and its esplanade, completed in 1962, acknowledged the importance of the avenue, with its visual connection to the mountain. In the early 1980s, a plan was announced to build a symphony hall in conjunction with a shopping centre, which would have spanned the entire avenue, blocking the view of the mountain.

In 1982, promoter Cadillac Fairview began seeking authorization to build a shopping centre on the block formed by Boulevard De Maisonneuve, Sainte-Catherine and Mansfield streets and McGill College Avenue. The City of Montreal Executive Committee then authorized the expropriation of certain building owners along the avenue for development purposes. In mid-April 1984, Cadillac Fairview unveiled its project.

Dismayed by developer Cadillac Fairview’s announcement of the project, Phil O’Brien decided to bring together members of the business community and persuade them that closing McGill College would have a negative economic impact and strip the avenue of its identity as a prestigious artery. In 1984, Heritage Montreal, in partnership with business and urban development stakeholders, convinced the city administration and the promoter to hold public hearings and rethink the project based on the results.

At then end of April, the boards of directors of the Chambre de commerce du district de Montréal and the Montreal Board of Trade asked the Urban Planning and Development Committee of the COPEM (Committee for the Economic Promotion of Montreal) to study the Cadillac Fairview project. Its May 1984 report was entitled Non à la fermeture de l’avenue McGill College et au rejet du concept de boulevard prestigieux pour cette avenue (“No to the closing of Avenue McGill College and the rejection of the concept of a prestige boulevard for this avenue”). Shortly thereafter, the Order of Architects and the Corporation of Urban Planners announced a day of consultation.

At the same time, Heritage Montreal persuaded Cadillac Fairview to produce a planning study. The promoter also created the Comité consultatif pour le design urbain du secteur McGill College (advisory committee on the urban design of the McGill College sector), with representatives of the business community and Heritage Montreal, one representative of Cadillac Fairview and one from the Orchestre symphonique de Montréal, and a professor of architecture from McGill University.

Following public hearings paid for by the promoter and led by the Committee, the original project was abandoned, making way for a new development concept for the avenue, with the contribution of local stakeholders, grouped into an association. As a result, Avenue McGill College was saved, widened and enhanced, and the exceptional view of Mount Royal was preserved.

This marked the first time that the business community and defenders of heritage joined forces to acknowledge the need for a process of public consultation and clear, binding urban planning rules. L’Affaire McGill College was a turning point in the history of consultation and urban development in Montreal, and in awakening collective awareness of the importance of protecting elements that contribute to a shared sense of identity, such as the view of Mount Royal.

Knowing the history of one’s city and its land planning and skilfully communicating it to key stakeholders makes it easier to enrich projects, to dream big and to incite others to do the same.