The Redpath
Mansion has been torn down, ending decades-long battle to save historic house.
The Redpath Mansion — which for 28 years has been at the epicentre of a battle between heritage activists and developers — is no more. The last vestiges of the hotly disputed building at 3455-3457 du Musée Ave. were finally torn down Wednesday. Alternately referred to as a gem and an eyesore, here is a brief history of the Golden Square Mile property and the fight it sparked: The home was built in 1886 on the estate of John Redpath, founder of the Redpath sugar refinery and patriarch of one of Montreal’s most influential families, for his daughter and her husband. It was originally christened Inglenook. The Redpath home on du Musée is not to be confused with another Redpath family mansion on Sherbrooke St. that was the scene of a grisly murder that rocked late 19th-century Montreal. It was deemed architecturally significant by heritage groups because the Queen Anne-style red-brick house was designed by Scottish-born architect Sir Andrew Taylor and featured turrets, a tower, Palladian windows, slate shingles, gables, tall chimneys and balconies. Similar examples of Taylordesigned, Queen-Anne-style homes in the Golden Square Mile were demolished in the 1970s. The mansion first sat vacant for many decades starting in 1928, when the descendant of the Redpath family who was residing in it at the time died. In 1969, it was taken over by a non-profit group and set up as a convalescence home for dialysis patients at the Royal Victoria Hospital. It was later purchased by a religious order and used as a homeless shelter. In 1986, a century after its construction, the Redpath Mansion was purchasedby Amos and Avi Sochaczevski, who began to tear down the structure and integrate the façade into a condo project. That’s when heritage activists Save Montreal and Heritage Montreal went to court and were granted an injunction stopping the demolition after roughly half the house was demolished.
Since then, the house has sat vacant and deteriorating as the Sochaczevskis proposed various projects for the site that were ultimately nixed by the city. In 2011, then-mayor Gérald Tremblay first pledged and then withdrew his support for a condo project at the 11th hour over the objections of the nearby Montreal Museum of Fine Arts. On Feb. 13, 2014, Mayor Denis Coderre admitted he’d given the green light to tear down the remains of the Redpath when the city issued a demolition permit in December: “It was too dangerous, so I asked that we demolish the building,” Coderre explained. “It is a question of safety. I made the decision myself. I assume full responsibility for it. ... We can’t leave a building like that. ... It has been dragging on too long.” Quebec Culture Minister Maka Kotto then intervened and offered on last reprieve, before finally saying in late February that the mansion “does not present a national heritage interest” and can be torn down. Michael Sochasczevski, Amos’s son, said in February there was little left of the once proud mansion to save. But he blamed “the city and the economic climate of Montreal” for the building’s derelict condition. Heritage Montreal on Wednesday lamented the Redpath Mansion’s demise as “a shameful abuse of process and a loss to the city.” What is planned for the Golden Square Mile property in the end? An upscale student residence, with 29 suites and 89 bedrooms, where rooms will rent for $1,000 a month.