Neighbours forced to evacuate due to heritage building at risk of collapse in Plateau

About 40 people in Montreal's Plateau-Mont-Royal borough were forced out of their homes Tuesday night because of a building next door at risk of collapsing.

The two buildings on de l'Esplanade Avenue share a wall. They were built in the early 1900s but have fallen into disrepair in recent decades.

Montreal's fire protection service ordered the evacuation as a precaution just after 8 p.m. Tuesday. They had already been at the site over the weekend to put up a new barricade in front of the building because a decaying wall had crumbled further.

Dan Walfish, one of the evacuees, said he heard a "loud noise" around suppertime Tuesday and walked outside to see what was going on.

"I saw that the building was falling apart, literally," he said. One of his neighbours called the police and soon after, residents were told they would have to leave for the night.

Police arrested one man in his 70s who refused to leave his apartment, neighbours told CBC News.

Walfish, who has lived next door to the buildings in question for six years, said he wasn't surprised by what happened.

He sympathizes with the owner, saying "it's been hard for him" and suggesting that the reason no action has been taken is due to the high cost of restoring heritage buildings.

Legal battle with city dates back decades

Concerns over the building's possible collapse date back many years.

In 2016, the property was encircled by metal fences for safety reasons and, in September of that year, CBC Montreal published a week-long series of investigative stories that detailed Montreal's extensive legal battle to save the heritage site.

In 1984, the city fined the owner for failing to maintain his buildings which, at the time, still had tenants.

• Quebec court orders demolition of historic Plateau greystone, repairs to its twin

In 1996, after continual complaints from neighbours, city inspectors declared the buildings unsafe, forcing the tenants to move out.

Interim borough mayor Alex Norris has expressed concerns about the building's neglect in the past. He has said he wants the owner to take responsibility and make the necessary repairs.

This morning, Norris told CBC he visited the site last night when he heard about the situation.

"This is an extremely frustrating situation that has gone on far too long," he said.

In October, Quebec Superior Court justice ordered Guy Desrosiers, who's owned the heritage buildings at 4403-4423 de l'Esplanade Ave. since the late 1970s, to demolish one of the three-storey buildings and to restore and repair its twin.

• Quebec court orders demolition of historic Plateau greystone, repairs to its twin

Dinu Bumbaru, the policy director for Heritage Montreal, said that this latest development in the decades-long saga "could have been prevented."

"Buildings don't stand on their own naturally. You have to pay some attention to them," he said.

Building a 'safety hazard'

"It's a mess," said neighbour Mathieu Morin. He's lived down the street for about four years and he thinks the city should have done something already, calling it a "safety hazard."

It has been like a game of hot potato, Morin said, with authorities passing responsibility.

He'd like to see the building come down and replaced with one of a similar style.

The two greystone buildings are located directly across from Jeanne-Mance Park, near the Mont-Royal Avenue intersection.

It is not clear when the residents will be allowed to return home.