Demolition of iconic CNR office building: an illegal act

   Southwest borough mayor Benoit Dorais has confirmed to Coolopolis that he watched on helplessly as the historic, abandoned old Grand Trunk/ Canadian National Railways office building at Bridge and Wellington was illegally demolished last winter by Ray-Mont Logisitics, which was hired by a condo company which is planning to put up condos at the corner.
   The company has been fined by the borough, he reports, and the case is in the courts as we speak, or write, or type or whatever we're doing here.
   There appears to have been little outrage following this demolition, which is unfortunate.
   In the mid-70s heritage activists were outraged when similar illegal (or otherwise dodgy) demolitions were undertaken around Montreal, most notably the Van Horne Mansion. That demolition at NE Drummond and Sherbrooke in 1973 so outraged Montrealers that David Azrieli's reputation was permanently tarnished following the affair, leading him to spend more time in Israel than in Montreal, where he was the province's third wealthiest resident. Azrieli died last week and the issue was raised prominently in the notice.

As it looks now

   Now while this building was no Van Horne mansion, it was the most important of a series of buildings used in the administration of a busy area that included slaughterhouses a stone's throw away from Goose Village.
   I asked Dorais which company the developers hired to demolish the premises but he replied that it was the Ray-Mont crews themselves who took the lovely old building down.
   We at Coolopolis feel that the developers should be forced to rebuild the same building and integrated it into their condo project and whoever actually issued the order should face legal sanctions.
    The demolition also raises fears that a similar abandoned old structure a little further down Bridge (in front of Costco) could fall victim to a similar fate.
  The once-lively area was devastated by a series of expropriations in the 1960s. Here's a list of events that took place in the area over the years.

@CoolopolisMTL On m'a informé de la démolition en plein congé de Noël et me suis immédiatement rendu sur place avec des policiers. Quoi de +
— Benoit Dorais (@benoitdorais) July 15, 2014

On Thursday Dorais confirmed in a tweet that the borough is indeed arguing in court to force the property owners to rebuild the demolished building.

@aloxmtl C'est ce que nous voulions. Règlement prévoit reconstruction dans le même état qu'avant la démolition. Or, on ne... @CoolopolisMTL
— Benoit Dorais (@benoitdorais) July 17, 2014

@aloxmtl ... peut demander la reconstruction d'un bâtiment à 45-50% vétuste. La cour décidera des suites de ce dossier @CoolopolisMTL
— Benoit Dorais (@benoitdorais) July 17, 2014

Dorais later rephrased his comments, noting that ordering the rebuilding of a building in such bad shape would seem a stretch, but that "the courts would decide."