Montreal's fabled Pieds Noirs - Blackfeet - French-Canadian stonemasons from the 1800s, were named in honour of the dirty feet they'd prop up while drinking after a hard day of work.
Their story is a rich one and is essential to those who follow Montreal's raucous history of drinking, fighting and working hard.
Though their names be forgotten, Montreal has these workers to thank for its finest stone structures.
The workers were closely associated with uniquely twisted Des Carrieres Street but this series of photos of ancient houses taken in 1950 by Edgar Gariepy was subtitled "Pieds-Noirs," demonstrates that the Blackfeet also lived in this stretch a little further south, at the top of Berri, north of Laurier.
Some of the noble old structures still stand to this day, as shown in last photos.
Their story is a rich one and is essential to those who follow Montreal's raucous history of drinking, fighting and working hard.
Though their names be forgotten, Montreal has these workers to thank for its finest stone structures.
The workers were closely associated with uniquely twisted Des Carrieres Street but this series of photos of ancient houses taken in 1950 by Edgar Gariepy was subtitled "Pieds-Noirs," demonstrates that the Blackfeet also lived in this stretch a little further south, at the top of Berri, north of Laurier.
Some of the noble old structures still stand to this day, as shown in last photos.
There still exist a few ancient houses around. Check out this website:
ReplyDeletehttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_historic_places_in_Montreal
There is the one at 6255 Jarry East in St Leonard. Unfortunately the most recent Google Maps image has it virtually obscured from view by parked buses.
Another at 3600 Kent Avenue had recently been re-purposed for use by the Centre de Pediatre Sociale Cote des Neiges. The old well that was originally outside has been removed and its surrounding lawn partially replaced by a semi-circular driveway. See:
https://imtl.org/image.php?id=2707
Merci pour ces photos de maisons anciennes.
ReplyDelete