Le déclin de la maison de fond de cour à Montréal, 1880-1920

Luc Carey

The Montreal rear tenement is typical working-class housing, located in poor neighbourhoods, and associated with the Industrial Revolution. This house is built in the back yard, hidden from the street by another building located at the front of the lot. The rear tenement is principally a duplex or a two-story fourplex, with a flat roof, built at the rear of the lot, and linked to the street by a covered passage. The number of rear tenements increases up to the end of the 19th century, and then decreases until this kind of housing nearly disappears around 1980. Many combined factors explain this decline: progressive improvement in living conditions, urban sprawl, reduction in the size of lots, downtown expansion, and municipal by-laws. Considered as slums in the past and targets of fierce demolition campaigns during the 20th century, the rear tenements have been renovated in the last few years by wealthy people who wish to live in a calm environment close to downtown.