Join Norm Spatz, AB ’70, MArch ’72, for a virtual walking tour of Montreal’s MacDonald Avenue. The western side of the street traverses a five-block-long and half-block-wide “digit” of the city of Côte Saint-Luc (CSL), which straddles the town of Hampstead and the Snowdon neighborhood of Montreal. This tiny island of municipal territory physically stands out from its neighbors with a line of high-rise apartments that do not resemble the chic private homes in Hampstead and the more modest duplexes in Montreal. There is even a tiny park, which has territory in all three municipalities.
The legal status of this area is unknown to those who live around it and even in it. Municipal staff in Hampstead and Montreal are often unaware that this enclave of CSL exists! This tour explains what twists of fate created this slice of CSL and how its status allowed fortunes to be made from its unique status and location.
The existence of three municipalities in less than half a city block has created a tale of three cities. Hampstead to the west has a fascinating history of being a garden city. Founded to resemble its namesake around London, England, the rigid building code and elevated incomes of its founders anchored a tradition that to this day produces an environment of distinguished residential architecture. Just to the east lies the Snowdon district of Montreal, which continues the middle-class, anglo-urban fabric with mainly duplexes similar to Montreal neighborhoods to its south.
It seems that the city of Côte Saint-Luc found a way to make this area work economically. At some point about seventy years ago, zoning in this little island of CSL permitted residential high rises where nothing similar had been close. This narrow slice of land could suddenly accommodate a population of taxpayers that made servicing an isolated slice of land very viable. Former Mayor Adessky of Hampstead spoke to Norm about the outrage that residents of his city near the border with CSL expressed as high rises were built to the rear of their gardens. There was nothing to be done; the CSL digit had found its destiny.
About Norm Spatz:
A proud product of New Jersey, Norm Spatz is an equally proud immigrant to Canada. After a decade and a half working in Montreal as an architect specializing in residential renovation, Norm won a number of honors including mentions from the City of Montreal and First Prize in the 1982 Crédit Foncier Award sponsored by Heritage Canada. He was also a founder of the historic walking tour program of Save Montreal in 1982, which is currently administered by Heritage Montreal, and recently the “Where We Live Now Walking Tour Program” given by the Jewish Public Library from which the Circle Road Tour is drawn.
Norm entered the cégep system (the provincial junior college network) in 1989 teaching architectural technology in French. He retired teaching English as a second language. In between he became the English editor of a Quebec government ministry website to promote the use of information technology in cegeps.
Retired in 2015, Norm now has time for other activities such as writing fiction and giving walking tours. Married to Rita Bauer in 1985, they have one son, Sam.
