Citizen alert
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Published on : November 04 2019
Last modified on : July 16 2025
Alert submitted by: Françoise Le Gris
This municipal building is under threat of demolition. It features a modern “bar-type” architectural style, with extensive glazing and Art Deco elements on its façade. The Recreation Centre provides multiple rooms for classes, workshops, meetings, and other activities. In addition to a Youth Centre and two locker rooms with showers, it contains 10 different multipurpose rooms.
Built in 1966, the Recreation Centre is part of a larger architectural and urban ensemble of municipally owned buildings with heritage significance, including the Town Hall and a series of adjoining structures along Roosevelt Avenue. Other heritage buildings are also located around the large recreational and sports park on Dunkirk Street, along the commuter rail line that crosses the city. This built and green ensemble is described in By-law 1317 concerning the SCA (Site Planning and Architectural Integration Program).
These buildings are subject to protection and preservation obligations, as they are integral to the city’s outstanding heritage value as a Garden City. The city has retained its original urban plan, as recognized by Parks Canada in 2008, which granted it the status of a National Historic Site of Canada.
Centre loisir VMR
Furthermore, it is worth noting that the Recreation Centre located at 60 Roosevelt Avenue is listed among the “buildings of exceptional heritage value” in a study conducted by the Division of Heritage and Territory Enhancement of the Urban Development Directorate of the City of Montreal, published in 2005.
However, the Town of Mount Royal plans to demolish this building to construct a massive new sports complex, thereby compromising the site’s conformity to the original plan and sacrificing a significant area of green space surrounding the existing Recreation Centre. Following a demolition permit request filed by the Town of Mount Royal itself, the Demolition Committee (composed of three city councillors) approved the request on November 12, 2018. This decision, authorizing the demolition of the Recreation Centre, jeopardizes the very existence of the building and would deprive residents of a key piece of their built heritage within a coherent ensemble.
There are concerns that replacing this heritage building would not only violate municipal regulations but also disfigure the original urban plan and the lush greenery that is so important and characteristic of this specific location. Moreover, the plans and scale of the proposed replacement project were not submitted for public approval, not to mention the exorbitant cost (estimated at $48.7 million) of constructing the new facility. Several written objections from residents were sent to the Ministry of Municipal Affairs and Housing regarding this matter.
On February 16, 2020, a referendum was held, and residents voted in favor of the project. This new sports and community centre will be the first entirely new building planned by the Town in over 50 years. According to the Town of Mount Royal, the project aims to become the heart of a strong and unifying civic hub in the town center: it will bring together all activity spaces currently spread across the municipality into a single, central location.
The Town launched a call for tenders in 2024, and the contract was awarded in April 2025.
Mont-Royal City
Mechanisms for protection
Civic Heritage
Public: municipal
Demolition
Town of Mount-Royal
Cultural
Civic
Sports
1966
Located in a National Historic Site of Canada: Mount Royal Model City Building of Exceptional Heritage Value Located in an Area of Exceptional Heritage Value
How do you see this Montreal site? What legacy has it left us? What future can we create for it? Where to start to get there? Who wants to participate in the project?
You have questions? Want to do more, but lack the information? Consult our toolkit to learn more about the heritage of the Montreal metropolitan area, the preservation mechanisms in place and possible actions.
