The Plateau: The Anglophone City Inside the French One
Half of the writers who built the international image of Montreal wrote it in English, on streets that were officially French. The Plateau preserves that contradiction as architecture, and Leonard Cohen is the writer who chose, as an adult, to live on the Francophone side of the line.
4.42|70 minutes|1.8 km|4 Stops
Start
Carré Saint-Louis: The Gate
1
Carré Saint-Louis: The Gate
Platted 1876 on the site of the city's former reservoir, parkified 1879. Émile Nelligan lived at 3686 Avenue Laval, on the west side of the square, between 1886 and 1892. The bohemian-French anchor of the lower Plateau.
2
Saint-Laurent at Mont-Royal: The Dividing Line
Boulevard Saint-Laurent was designated the official east-west boundary of Montreal in 1792, and named a National Historic Site of Canada in 2002. The commercial corridor you are looking at is a cadastral line.
3
Schwartz's: The Surviving Deli
Founded 1928 by Reuben Schwartz, a Romanian-Jewish immigrant, at 3895 Boulevard Saint-Laurent. The surviving institutional fragment of the Jewish wave that peaked at roughly 60,000 in greater Montreal in 1931.
4
Cohen's Plateau House: The Inversion
28 rue de Vallières, across the street from Parc du Portugal. Leonard Cohen bought this three-storey triplex in the early 1970s and kept it as his Montreal anchor until his death in 2016. The Anglophone-Westmount writer who chose, as an adult, to live on the Francophone side of the Main.
Best Time to Visit
Late morning, Tuesday through Friday. Carré Saint-Louis is at its best between 10 AM and noon when the light reaches the west-side facades and the Nelligan bust on Avenue Laval. Schwartz's queue is shortest before 11:30 AM. Avoid Friday and Saturday peak hours (noon to 3, 6 to 9) for Schwartz's and Saint-Laurent crowds. Carré Saint-Louis is a public park open 24 hours; daylight is strongly preferred for the audio.
Pro Tips
- •Read the Nelligan bust from the west side of the square. The inscription on the granite base is in French; the figure is by Roseline Granet, installed June 7, 2005
- •Saint-Laurent at Mont-Royal is a busy six-corner intersection. Stand back from the curb on the southeast corner so you can look north up the boulevard without being in the bike-and-bus lane
- •Schwartz's is a working deli. The exterior reading is the tour anchor. If you want to eat, the takeout window next door (Schwartz's Charcuterie) has shorter lines than the dining room
- •28 rue de Vallières is a private residence still owned by the Cohen family. Read it from the south sidewalk. Do not photograph the door at close range. Do not ring
- •If you want to continue the Jewish-Anglophone corridor north into Mile End, walk Saint-Laurent uphill from the deli; the Mile End tour begins at Avenue du Mont-Royal and walks Saint-Urbain, Saint-Viateur, and Fairmount
Safety & Precautions
- Boulevard Saint-Laurent has a dedicated bus lane and an active bike lane. Cross at signalled intersections only
- Parc du Portugal is a small public square; the rue de Vallières sidewalk in front of Cohen's house is residential and narrow. Keep voices down and do not block the door
- Carré Saint-Louis is open 24 hours but the audio is best read in daylight when the Nelligan bust and the perimeter row houses are legible
- Schwartz's frontage is on a busy stretch of Saint-Laurent with frequent foot traffic. Stand back from the door so the queue can move
Gallery
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Companion
The Anglophone City Inside the French One: A Companion to the Plateau Walk
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